Frank Lampard said turning around Chelsea’s fortunes will be the next manager’s problem as he prepares to bow out from his interim role after Sunday’s game against Newcastle.
The team’s wretched season slumped to a new low with a 4-1 thumping against Manchester United at Old Trafford on Thursday, the ninth defeat of Lampard’s 11 games in charge.
If results go against them on the final day they could finish as low as 14th and equal their worst placing in the Premier League era.
They are already guaranteed to end with their lowest points tally in the competition, with the fewest number of goals the club have scored in a Premier League campaign.
Mauricio Pochettino is expected to be appointed as the club’s next permanent manager in the coming days and his in-tray will include quickly slimming down a bloated first-team squad and installing cohesion in a team that has lost its way since Graham Potter was sacked in April.
Chelsea have won only once in the almost two months since Potter was removed seven months into a five-year contract, and the task of rediscovering the team’s form has seemingly grown more daunting with each defeat.
A remedy has proved beyond Lampard in his short time in charge, and he was asked whether the incoming manager will have the toughest job of any Chelsea boss in the last 20 years.
“It’s a good headline but I don’t know,” said Lampard. “It remains to be seen, I can’t jump into the future.
“I think it is a fantastic job because it is the Chelsea job and when I took it first time (in 2019) I came I probably got it it was because a lot of top managers didn’t want that, I know that for a fact.
“I enjoyed the process and I enjoyed coming in and I wish the new manager well.
“I don’t know… it’s his problem I guess – is that the headline you wanted?”
One of the hindering factors during Lampard’s reign has been the size of the squad, with 34 first-team players vying for selection following co-owner Todd Boehly’s whirlwind transfer activity during his first 12 months in control.
It has meant limited playing time for younger members of the squad, even those signed for large fees and with high expectations.
Carney Chukwuemeka joined from Aston Villa for £20million last summer but has struggled for minutes, whilst Noni Madueke arrived for £29m from PSV Eindhoven and has featured just 11 times.
Both players started the loss at Old Trafford and played 82 minutes before being substituted and Lampard said he was pleased with the application of players that came in having not been regulars in the side.
“I don’t want to go into individuals,” he said. “I thought Carney did really well (against United) coming in to midfield with personality. It has been one of the harder parts of my job with the numbers in the squad.
“Going with a team to win important games and working with the younger players who we haven’t seen before because normally there is a process and a pre-season.
“We haven’t had that time. I thought Carney did well, I thought Noni did pretty well again and the flip of that was that Azpi (Cesar Azpilicueta) was fantastic with his captaincy and attitude.
“It is 70 per cent of the game how you apply yourself and your attitude.”
Manchester City’s injury problems ease ahead of FA Cup final
Treble-chasing Manchester City could be close to full strength as they take on arch-rivals Manchester United in the FA Cup final on Saturday.
The champions have had fitness concerns in the build-up to the Wembley showpiece.
Jack Grealish, Kevin De Bruyne, Ruben Dias and Manuel Akanji all missed last weekend’s final Premier League game of the season at Brentford for a variety of reasons.
Training for the quartet was also curtailed as City opted not to take risks ahead of what is a momentous period in the club’s history with the Champions League final to follow next week.
Manager Pep Guardiola says the whole squad is now looking fit and healthy.
He said: “They’ve trained well in the last two training sessions. They are all of them, more or less, fine.”
One member of City’s first-choice XI who will not start, however, is goalkeeper Ederson.
Back-up Stefan Ortega has featured in all domestic cup fixtures this season and, after also playing in two of the last three Premier League games, will be given the nod at Wembley.
“Stefan is going to play,” said Guardiola of the German, who has not conceded a goal in the FA Cup this term.
“I have always been like that in the FA Cup. The keeper who has played in the FA Cup is going to play in the FA Cup (final).”
Guardiola is preparing for a tough contest against a United side who will not be short of incentives at Wembley.
As well the usual cup final and derby motivations, United are also bidding to prevent City emulating their so far unique achievement of winning the Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League in the same season.
City thrashed United 6-3 early in their manager Erik ten Hag’s reign back in October but Guardiola feels they are a considerably better side now.
He said: “A final is special for itself but what United have been doing in the last four, five, six months – they are a completely different team from the beginning of the season when we faced them here.
“I have the feeling that the team has improved from the beginning of the season – the patterns are more clear and the quality they have.”
Guardiola insists he is taking the fixture in isolation and not yet thinking about it in the context of a potentially glorious treble.
He said: “It would be good for us if we think about what we have to do to win one game.
“We have to analyse the strength of our opponent and see the weaknesses they have. The focus is, it’s a football game, that’s the most important thing.
“What’s (said) outside is normal, we cannot control it, but the last two games of the season we have to do what we have to do on the pitch to win the game.”
Nzonzi forever grateful to Allardyce and says Big Sam's management still has a place
Steven Nzonzi feels there is still a place for Sam Allardyce and his style of management, despite the former England manager having suffered two relegations in his last two jobs.
Allardyce could not save Leeds United from dropping to the Championship, with the 68-year-old failing to win any of his four games in charge after he replaced Javi Gracia in May.
Leeds confirmed on Friday that Allardyce would be leaving the club.
It is the second Premier League relegation on Allardyce's CV, after he also went down with West Brom in the 2020-21 season.
Nzonzi, who worked under Allardyce at Blackburn Rovers, feels his old boss' style of management is not outdated.
He told Stats Perform: "Of course, there is a place, there is no question about it, he has great experience and I think that Leeds may have brought him a little bit late.
"I played under Sam Allardyce, and trust me he is a big character, and he has big charisma.
"So, for me, to save a team he is one of the best for sure, but it is difficult to come in and he managed four games. I think it was a bit too late.
"But of course, he has great experience, so he can still manage in the Premier League, in the Championship, he is a great coach, I have great memories of working with him, amazing memories."
Indeed, Nzonzi, who would go on to represent major clubs like Sevilla and Roma after playing under Big Sam, says Allardyce is the coach he is most grateful to.
"That would be impossible for me to say, I enjoyed so many managers," he said when asked who the best coach he had worked under was.
"The one I enjoyed the most was [Jorge] Sampaoli, but the one I am more grateful about is Sam Allardyce, because I came from the second division in France and to start me in the Premier League against Manchester City, for the first game of the season - it was the game that changed my vision and my life.
"It gave me confidence that I have the ability to play at a high level, so I would say Sam Allardyce for that."
Nottingham Forest confirm Jesse Lingard exit
Former England international Jesse Lingard will leave Nottingham Forest at the end of his contract.
Lingard raised eyebrows when he joined Forest last season following their promotion to the Premier League, turning down West Ham to sign a lucrative one-year deal.
But his time at the City Ground did not work out and he made just 20 appearances in all competitions, scoring two goals in the Carabao Cup.
He featured just four times in 2023, but was a constant presence on the touchline as Forest beat the odds to retain their Premier League status.
The 30-year-old will now look for a third club in three years, with reports linking him to a number of cash-rich leagues abroad.
Andre Ayew, who signed a short-term contract in January, will also depart the City Ground this summer, along with Jack Colback, Cafu, Lyle Taylor and Jordan Smith.
Right-back Serge Aurier, who was a key performer in Forest’s survival mission, has triggered the one-year option in his contract so will stay for the 2023/24 campaign.
Loanees Dean Henderson, Keylor Navas and Renan Lodi come to the end of their deals, though Forest are understood to be interested in exploring permanent moves for Manchester United goalkeeper Henderson and Brazilian Lodi.
Forest are not expected to have a repeat of last summer’s recruitment drive, which saw them sign 22 players by the end of the transfer window and go up to 30 by the end of January.
But it is still likely to be busy as boss Steve Cooper targets a smaller number of quality additions and will be keen to move several players on as he trims a bloated squad.
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