Football London
The resigned groans of Stamford Bridge were wrapped in a tinge of tiredness like we had experienced this all before too many times.
Wasted opportunities, laboured play and a lack of invention have all been sad trademarks of Chelsea performances in the Premier League over the past four years. For outsiders, this result and performance might have been shocking, but I’d be quite stunned if any avid supporter would be.
The 1-1 draw at home to a weakened, confidence sapped and out of form Everton is undeniably the worst result of the season so far vindicating Frank Lampard’s title prediction.
It was in January of this year following an insipid 2-0 defeat to Leicester that Lampard made damning comments about his current squad.
“We are not at the position of a Chelsea football club that we were when we were winning leagues” the former Blues boss said after the game.
“We are not ready to compete.”
That turned out to be Lampard’s final Premier League game in charge, sacked the following Monday to be replaced by Thomas Tuchel.
Those comments quickly became a stick to beat Lampard with, especially when Tuchel was transforming a once underperforming squad to something greater in the Champions League.
By the time Chelsea were lifting the European Cup at the Estádio do Dragão in May it was very hard to make the case for Lampard’s comments being accurate on this squad being unable to compete.
Jumping forward to the final weeks of 2021 and suddenly those remarks feel relevant again, mostly in regards to Lampard dismissing the club’s current title credentials…
