Chelsea’s dedication to assault proved pricey in Frank Lampard’s return to Stamford Bridge

LONDON — The venue was acquainted. The vantage level was not.

Few folks on the planet know Stamford Bridge higher than Frank Lampard, who turned the West London stadium into his personal again backyard throughout an exceptional 13-year Chelsea profession during which he gained 11 main trophies and have become the membership’s document purpose scorer. However whereas he most likely trampled each single blade of grass on the pitch throughout his time in Chelsea blue, he did not spend a lot time within the dugout. Of the 218 Premier League appearances he made on the Bridge, solely 15 got here from the bench.

The bench, although, is his new area, and it was in the direction of that space, simply to the best of the gamers’ tunnel, that each one eyes within the stadium turned when the brand new Chelsea supervisor emerged shortly earlier than kickoff in his facet’s 1-1 draw with Leicester Metropolis on Sunday. Sporting a white tracksuit high and darkish blue tracksuit bottoms, he embraced Leicester supervisor Brendan Rodgers on the mouth of the tunnel earlier than applauding all 4 sides of the bottom, a refrain of “Tremendous Frankie Lampard!” booming down from throughout.

A photographic portrait of Lampard in opposition to a gold background adorned the entrance of the match programme. On the stroll to the bottom down Fulham Highway, blue and white “SUPER FRANK LAMPARD” scarves hung from each stall. Within the shadow forged by the chunk of wall from the again of the unique Shed Finish, which runs alongside the stadium’s southern perimeter, followers posed for images in entrance of an image of a beaming Lampard brandishing the Champions League trophy in 2012. Win or lose, today was all the time going to be about him.

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Because it occurred, Lampard spent a lot of the first half standing on the sting of his technical space, somewhat than sitting within the dugout, and it was from there that he watched Mason Mount give his facet a seventh-minute lead that rewarded the hosts’ aggressive begin to the sport. When Wilfred Ndidi turned his again on the play after receiving the ball from goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel, Mount pounced, nicking the ball off the Nigerian and brilliantly clipping a low shot previous the flat-footed Schmeichel together with his proper foot.

Lampard punched the air with delight earlier than turning to flash a telling grin at his teaching workers. Mount was with him on mortgage at Derby County final season, the place Lampard launched his managerial profession, and the 20-year-old academy graduate’s integration into the Chelsea first XI is a central pillar of the previous England midfielder’s quest to make the West London membership aggressive regardless of the switch ban they’re underneath.

Lampard spoke out in defence of Mount after the midfielder’s place within the staff was questioned by Jose Mourinho, Lampard’s former Stamford Bridge mentor, within the wake of Chelsea’s Four-Zero defeat at Manchester United on the opening weekend. This was vindication, however it could be fleeting.

Chelsea’s switch embargo meant that, opposite to earlier seasons, there was just one new signing making his house debut. U.S. worldwide Christian Pulisic had proven thrilling glimpses of his expertise in Wednesday’s penalty shootout defeat by Liverpool within the UEFA Tremendous Cup, however right here he reduce a peripheral determine and was withdrawn with 20 minutes remaining. By which period the sport had modified fully.

Frank Lampard might solely encourage Chelsea to a draw vs. Leicester on his return to Stamford Bridge. DANIEL LEAL-OLIVAS/AFP/Getty Photos

Rodgers is not any stranger to Stamford Bridge himself, having began his teaching profession at Chelsea underneath Mourinho’s tutelage, and because the sport wore on his Leicester facet assumed management.

Chelsea’s dedication to front-foot soccer — one other tenet of the Lampard philosophy — meant they stored leaving area in entrance of their again 4, which Leicester’s attacking gamers streamed into at will. After Hamza Choudhury and James Maddison had threatened, they levelled within the 66th minute when Ndidi discovered area between Kurt Zouma and Cesar Azpilicueta to go house Maddison’s nook from the best and atone for his function in Chelsea’s opener.

Lampard’s response was to introduce Willian and Mateo Kovacic rather than Jorginho and Pulisic, having earlier despatched on Tammy Abraham up entrance, however Leicester got here closest to profitable it when the harmful Maddison skipped previous Emerson Palmieri and blazed over. Though Chelsea continued to push, the ultimate whistle introduced extra aid than frustration to the house supporters.

“That first patch [of the game] was how we need to play, and the remainder of the sport was not how we need to play,” mentioned Lampard, who stays with out a win after three video games as Chelsea supervisor.

“Within the second half we left far too many areas for them. That was the disappointing factor for me, that we could not maintain that vitality from the early a part of the sport.

“There are moments in video games the place we’ve got to indicate persona. That is one thing we are able to all work on. I do not need to be an attacking staff who will be given a sucker punch. There are sturdy classes from at the moment.”

Lampard mentioned tiredness within the wake of the 120 minutes performed in opposition to Liverpool in Istanbul “needed to be an element” in the way in which his staff’s efficiency tailed off, however he refused to make use of it as an excuse and mentioned he did not need to bemoan Chelsea’s switch ban both. If these are the instruments he should work with, then work with them he’ll.

Leicester’s highly effective second-half exhibiting may have given Rodgers encouragement that his facet, who drew Zero-Zero with Wolverhampton Wanderers final weekend, have what it takes to upset the established order within the Premier League by turfing groups like Chelsea out of the highest six.

“I believed some extent was the least we deserved,” he mentioned. “For us to play with that confidence was notably pleasing. We performed like an enormous staff.”