has defended head coach amid mounting pressure on the Argentine and has attempted to explain his former club’s problems after they suffered a horrific start to the season.
Lampard, who made 648 appearances for Chelsea as a player and won countless trophies, took charge of the Blues last season on a short-term deal following the sacking of and he was replaced by Pochettino this summer.
It was Lampard’s second stint as Chelsea head coach after he led the team between 2019 and 2021 and given his long association with the club – and also due to the fact that he worked under co-owner Todd Boehly – he is well placed to analyse the current situation at Stamford Bridge.
Chelsea have been in disarray ever since Boehly took over from Roman Abramovich with an embarrassing 12th-placed finish in the Premier League last season before a slow start this term, with the Blues winning just one of six games.
Chelsea’s problems come despite the west Londoners spending over £1 billion on players since Boehly took charge and Lampard has now shared his views on what is going wrong at the club.
‘I’m not surprised by some of the difficulties having lived it first hand at end of last season,’ Lampard told Sky Sports. ‘I came into a club where it had been eight months of poor results under top managers.
‘I could see the issues with confidence and maybe some motivation amongst the squad. It was such a big squad, unprecedented numbers, and some felt their time was up at Chelsea or that the club was trying to move them on. I lived that feeling.
‘I think [Pochettino] will get patience and I think he deserves it. He’s a man that comes with a big pedigree as a coach and I’ve already referenced some of the issues I felt and saw and he’ll have his own version of that.
‘We all want to perform as well as we can and he needs time. As a coach, I know xG is an indicator of sorts. When you get in attacking areas, you are, as a coach, sometimes reliant on finishing and your players.
‘So he will be frustrated with that because that’s what gets you a good start going into that run of games, which breeds confidence.
‘It just generates a sort of negativity in games and even if you are controlling possession and having fair chances and start to miss them, there’s a feeling among the fans, a feeling among the players that if you don’t score, it becomes more tense.
‘Then the other team score and that becomes a recurring thing, so they are going to have to break that.
‘Chelsea clearly have a strategy of trying to develop. If you’re going to do that, you have to give the manager [time].
‘If results continue, the tide can turn on you as a manager, but when you set your stool out – everyone can see this squad now, the age and profile of it – you have to give the manager what he deserves, which is time.’
