03/04/2023–09/04/2023

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Not so Super FRANK…Loses his first game back in the dug out.

• Frank Lampard has returned to Chelsea as interim head coach until the end of the season. The club described him as a “stabiliser” until the end of the season, following the sacking of Graham Potter, who according to The Athletic, was being called “Harry Potter” by Chelsea players, which further cemented the view that Potter does not have the “aura” to manage a big club.
• After the announcement of Lampard’s return, there was a sense of excitement from fans with hopes of an uplift in team spirit, as the club believed that bringing in Frank would help restore its identity. However, Todd Boehly’s decision-making may yet again be exposed, as Lampard takes over the reins at Chelsea once more. It’s important to note that opinions on Lampard’s managerial abilities are subjective and vary among different people. While some may view him as a mediocre manager, others may have a more positive perception of his managerial journey.
• I am of the belief that Lampard is a relatively mediocre manager, we saw that when he was Chelsea manager in 2021 and, as expected, has remained a mediocre manager in 2023, which was evident during his troubled spell at Everton. Yesterday, Lampard returned to the Chelsea dugout against relegation-fighting Wolverhampton FC and lost the game 1–0. Wolves are now only eight points behind Chelsea in the table, and Chelsea looked lacklustre on the day. Nothing about Lampard’s tactics and game management suggested any form of managerial “growth” since his sabbatical.
• Self-reflection is an important aspect of personal and professional growth, when managers get sacked or leave their position, there should be a sense of self-reflection that follows, resulting in changes to their coaching philosophy and tactics.
• Eddie Howe is an example of this, who, after his sacking from Bournemouth, took a break from football to study and research methods from the likes of Diego Simeone and others. We are now seeing this tactical revolution from Eddie Howe, who has Newcastle flying in the Premier League. However, with Lampard, it seems that no self-reflection has taken place. However, It is also important to keep in mind that Lampard’s personal development cannot be solely based on one match, and maybe I making definitive judgments way too early as may take time for these changes to become evident on the pitch.
• As for Chelsea’s upcoming Champions League match against Real Madrid on 12th of April, it is important for the team to remain focused and continue to work on their tactics and game plan. Anything can happen in football, and with the talent that Chelsea possesses, they certainly have the potential to pull off a victory.

It is not looking good for PSG…

• On April 5th, the 47th annual UEFA Ordinary Congress brought together honorary presidents and general secretaries of UEFA’s 55 member associations to shape the future of European football. The event took place in Lisbon, Portugal, known for its beauty and tourist appeal. Most attendees would have taken extra time to enjoy the city, to relax and reset. However, for one president it isn’t him who needs the reset but the football club which he oversees.
• PSG president Nasser Al-Khalaifi reportedly flew straight back to address the crisis at the club after the meeting. PSG’s poor performance this year has resulted in a series of crisis talks with players and backroom staff. Current manager Christophe Galtier has deemed their form “unacceptable,” and his job may be on the line. As the pressure mounts on PSG, I believe that Galtier’s days at the Le Parc des Princes may be numbered.
• Galtier’s failure to achieve the club’s most important goal — to win the UEFA Champions League(UCL) — has been a significant factor in his potential departure. Many view PSG as a super team with the likes of Messi, Neymar, and Mbappe, and a deep run into the UCL would not have been an unrealistic expectation. However, their loss to Bayern in March dashed those hopes. The pressure on Galtier may be mounting, but it is important to also consider the role of the players and the overall team dynamics. For many it has become evident that the “super” front three hasn’t been as effective as first planned and it is no surprise that there are rumors that sporting director Luis Campos is planning the departure of both Messi and Neymar.
• Currently, PSG sits six points ahead of Lens , but consecutive losses to Rennes and Lyon have only intensified the pressure on the French giants. The real question now is does anyone actually care how PSG end the season ?

Reading FC find themselves in a relegation scrap….

• Reading Football Club’s season has been further complicated after being docked six points by the English Football League (EFL), putting them in a relegation battle. The club was previously docked six points in November 2021 for violating financial regulations, specifically the profit and sustainability rules that limit a team’s losses to £39m over three seasons. The EFL gave Reading a business plan to help them out of their financial difficulties, with the most critical goal being to control player-related expenses.
• Unfortunately, the club failed to meet the financial targets set out in the plan, resulting in the second six-point penalty being triggered. Reading emphasized that they had made every reasonable effort to build a competitive squad without breaching limits, but admitted that despite substantial progress, the situation would not be easily fixed.
• This issue is becoming increasingly common in the English Football League, with financial troubles leading to relegation or survival battles for some clubs but not due to performances on the pitch but failure to comply with regulations off it. Derby County in the 2021/2022 season and Sheffield Wednesday in the 2020/2021 season have followed a similar fate. This trend of English Football League clubs struggling due to financial difficulties is something which may be worth writing and sharing with you guys in the future..in the meantime here is a survey done showcasing the issue grippling the EFL.

Trigger happy — Thinkpiece

Chelsea’s record with coaches isn’t new. It’s been their practice for the past 20 years, hardly worth writing about.

Still, seeing a club fire two coaches in the same season is quite a spectacle, something more common at a club like Watford than at Chelsea. But, at this point, maybe this is what we should expect from Chelsea.

What’s more interesting is that it seems the general trend is to move on from coaches as quickly as possible at the first sign of trouble. (12 coaches have been sacked in the Premier League alone this season.)

As someone who (ashamedly) wanted their manager out on more than one occasion and didn’t get what they wanted, I now have boundless patience for managers going through tough spells. One should consider all angles, recent injuries, unlucky breaks in certain games that could have meant a coach would have gotten at least one more game, one more chance to prove themselves.

Patrick Viera didn’t deserve to get fired. If you’re going to replace him with Roy Hodgson (whom we should all have a lot of time for as a statesman of the game), then you can’t tell me it made sense for Crystal Palace to sack Patrick Viera. His last three games were against Unai Emery’s Aston Villa, MANCHESTER CITY, and Brighton. He lost these three games by one-goal margins.

Roy Hodgson’s first game after being reinstated as Palace head coach (at the time of writing) was against 19th placed Leicester City. There is, of course, no guarantee that Viera would have righted the ship, and it is entirely plausible that Palace would have gone down, but to me, it still does not seem like the decision to fire him was one made with the long-term future of Crystal Palace in mind.

Aforementioned Leicester City also sacked their coach Brendan Rodgers. This decision makes more sense to me and was a long time coming, but it appears there was hesitation before taking action. Sacking your coach after the final international break puts the next coach up against it. Maybe all they’ll need is a bit of momentum to get them through the end of the season and out of the relegation zone, but one wouldn’t bet on that. Leicester, in my view, dawdled and will pay the price for waiting too long to make the change, likely leading to relegation.

The nature of these three managerial changes ultimately highlights how difficult it is to make the right decision. Many factors must be considered, weighing the short-term and long-term ramifications of change versus opting for stability or stagnancy when things aren’t going well. Ultimately, I think both Chelsea and Palace will suffer in the long term for not committing to a long-term plan, while Leicester stands as an example of not knowing when to say when.

To Brendan Rodgers, Patrick Viera, and Graham Potter, may your next jobs come with less precariousness.