‘Don’t be like Frank Lampard in that way’ – Tuchel receive strong warning
Despite Chelsea’s excellent offensive displays under Frank Lampard, the defending was a disaster, leading to the club legend’s dismissal 18 months after his appointment.
Since taking over as Chelsea manager, Thomas Tuchel appeared to have fixed the team’s weak defense, but with recent defensive errors, old wounds have resurfaced.
Despite scoring first, Chelsea surrendered four goals to Brentford last month. After scoring three goals, the Blues were unable to maintain their lead over Real Madrid. Chelsea also conceded four goals against Arsenal due to defensive errors, and then lost to Everton.
On Saturday afternoon, Chelsea blew a two-goal lead against Wolves at Stamford Bridge, and Tuchel can’t seem to figure out what’s causing the defensive errors that are threatening to derail what should have been a successful season.
Chelsea great Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink recently made a statement in which he suggested that Chelsea under Thomas Tuchel is beginning to endure a fragile defense, similar to what we saw under Frank Lampard.
“It’s a big step but you don’t want to become a team that just reacts after the event. You want to become a team that does it straight away. They needed to react in this manner. It was always about that first goal can you get it as quickly as possible and then you will make them nervous. They did get it,” Hasselbaink said after a 3-3 draw at West Brom in September 2020.
“And, yes, they were better in the second half, the intensity was higher but it’s still a work in progress. Giving chances away needs to stop otherwise you’re going nowhere. It was three defensive mistakes for three goals. They scored with their three attempts on target, which made it very difficult.
“We controlled the game other than that. We had some chances and the question was how much character would we come out with second half. I always felt we could do it, but it is still two points lost. I would be stupid to say we can make three mistakes, give ourselves a mountain to climb and be happy with that.”
Hasselbaink had said that when a team keeps giving chances away, it would go nowhere. This is now the recurring story at Chelsea, Leeks says. The problem isn’t that the team isn’t playing well, but the recent defensive errors have become too much for a top side.