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#3 Lampard masterminds two wins over Mourinho
When Jose Mourinho worked as a pundit for Chelsea’s opening day loss to Manchester United in the 2019-20 campaign, few people could’ve expected that the Portuguese would come face-to-face with his former star player Lampard just a few months later.
However, that’s exactly what happened, as Mourinho was appointed as the new boss of Spurs in November 2019. But if people were expecting the old master to get the better of his younger counterpart, they were sorely mistaken.
The first game saw Lampard surprisingly use a 3-4-2-1 system, catching Mourinho off guard and allowing the Blues to largely run riot. Tottenham simply looked lethargic against Lampard’s more comfortable and confident side and fell to a 2-0 loss, with Willian responsible for both goals.
And when the two sides met again in February 2020, things didn’t change. Mourinho tweaked his depleted Spurs side, deploying them in a 5-4-1 system to attempt to counter Lampard’s tactics. But again, the younger man got, the better of him, this time by bringing Marcos Alonso and Olivier Giroud in from the cold.
The two recalled veterans tormented Tottenham’s defense from the off and scored both of Chelsea’s goals in a highly impressive 2-1 win.
Before both games, Tottenham had been chasing Chelsea in an attempt to overhaul them for a top-four position. After both, it was Lampard’s men in the driving seat. These two wins were a rare indicator that perhaps Lampard wasn’t as out of his depth as his detractors made out.
#3 Pulling off a last-gasp win over Arsenal
By the end of 2019, Lampard’s Chelsea side had picked up several excellent wins. But aside from their 2-0 win over Tottenham, they hadn’t taken the scalp of one of the Premier League’s big boys.
Lampard’s side had fallen to defeat at the hands of Manchester United, Liverpool, and Manchester City. But on December 29th, they had a shot at defeating another member of the so-called ‘Big Six’ when they faced off with Arsenal at the Emirates.
Early on, however, it didn’t look good for the Blues. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang opened the scoring for Arsenal after just 13 minutes, and according to Lampard in his post-game interview, Chelsea looked slow, lethargic, and nervous.
When the second half came around, though, a tactical switch from Lampard – sending midfielder Jorginho on to replace Emerson and moving to a 4-3-3 system – turned things around entirely.
The Blues began to get back into the game, slowly dominating their London rivals. And with just seven minutes to go, Lampard’s men found an equalizer. An error from Arsenal keeper Bernd Leno caused the goal, but it was the substitute Jorginho who found the back of the net.
And better was to come for Chelsea. After Arsenal attempted an attack, the Blues caught them on the break – and after some good work from Willian, Tammy Abraham was able to slot the ball past Leno to win the game.
The victory was Lampard’s second in a London derby and gave him one of his best days as Chelsea boss.
#5 Achieving Champions League qualification in his first season in charge
When Lampard was handed the Chelsea manager’s job in the summer of 2019, what was his remit for the 2019-20 season? It’s honestly hard to say, especially as the Blues were under a transfer embargo at the time.
Most observers felt that a top-four finish – Champions League qualification – was beyond Lampard and his young side, which had lost its best player, Eden Hazard, and was filled with inexperienced academy graduates.
However, despite suffering several losses throughout the campaign – 12 in total – Lampard’s side went into the UK’s COVID-19 lockdown in March in 4th place in the table, with nine games remaining.
And when the action recommenced, the Blues were able to defeat five of their first eight opponents. This meant that they would go into their final match with Wolves, knowing that a victory would send them into the Champions League for the second consecutive year.
And when the crunch game came, Lampard’s young side came through. Goals from academy graduate Mason Mount and veteran Olivier Giroud handed Chelsea a 2-0 win. The Blues took their seat at Europe’s top table in the 2020-21 season.
Given that bosses like Jose Mourinho and Antonio Conte had failed to do this – despite spending millions in the transfer market – this was a huge achievement for Lampard.
Not only had the rookie boss pulled off Champions League qualification in his first season in charge, but he’d done it without spending a penny, too.
