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After an unusual season of football that was ravaged by the COVID-19 outbreak, it is a quick turnaround before the start of the 2020-21 season. The transfer window is seeing increased activity over the last few days as clubs and most notably Chelsea are in a hurry to strengthen their squads ahead of the new season.
Having not done business for a year, Chelsea look set to make up for lost time and without a doubt they have had the best transfer window in Europe so far.
The Blues have strengthed their attack by securing the arrivals of Hakim Ziyech and Timo Werner. Further, the impending club-record deal for Kai Havertz is set to strengthen Chelsea's front-line.
There were questions raised over their defense and Chelsea's lack of action to improve their backline. However, over the last week with the signings of Ben Chilwell and Thiago Silva, Lampard's side has taken a huge step forward towards addressing the issue.
Why Chelsea's defense needs an overhaul
The question that arises is whether these signings will be enough to make Chelsea a team that is solid at the back. In Frank Lampard's first season, the club was largely successful and exceeded expectations. While the team and coaching staff deserve a lot of praise, there were some major areas of concern, especially in the defense.
Through the course of the season, Chelsea conceded 54 goals in the Premier League, which was the highest in the top half of the table. Their tally of letting in 79 across all competitions is the Blues' worst defensive record since the 1990/91 season.
Quite evidently, it is the issue that Lampard needs to immediately solve in order to help Chelsea challenge Liverpool and Manchester City. While they are set to become a threatening force in attack, it would not lead to much if they keep leaking goals as easily as they did over the last year
It goes without saying that no team ever rises to win major trophies like the league if they are not solid at the back.
What are the problems at the back?
Ultimately, the blame has to fall on the coach and one has to ask serious questions of Lampard. Time and again this season, Chelsea has been caught on counter-attacks showing very poor shape in defensive transition.
Moreover, a huge source of goals the Blues have conceded have come from set-pieces. Infact, only last-placed Norwich City allowed more goals in from corners than Chelsea which is simply not acceptable.
With Lampard being relatively new to coaching, the jury is still out on his managerial ability. With similar issues visible at Derby during Lampard's time, one is bound to question whether the Englishman can coach his side to get the correct defensive balance without compromising on their attacking quality.
Is it all Lampard's fault?
Blaming everything on Lampard would be unfair and only shift focus from the real issues. One only has to look at Chelsea's underlying numbers to see that the problems might not be as bad as they appear on surface.
According to data on whoscored.com, Chelsea conceded the second least shots per match (8.5) with only Manchester City (7.4) ranking lower in the list. Another validation of the same lies is how massively the Blues have underperformed their expected goals (xG) chart. As data on understat.com shows, Lampard's side conceded 12.91 goals more than they were expected too.
These issues indicate a quality issue and Chelsea's center-back conundrum highlight that. All through the season neither Chelsea fans nor Lampard himself could settle on who their best pairing was with none of Kurt Zouma, Antonio Rudiger, Andreas Christensen, or Fikoyi Tomori making convincing cases for themselves.
Many goals Chelsea conceded came from individual mistakes with no player doing enough to keep himself in the team apart from Zouma towards the end of the season. This led to Lampard being forced into making frequent changes that prevented any sort of chemistry building at the back.
Another huge reason that cannot be ignored is Chelsea's extremely unfortunate goalkeeping situation. While the club made Kepa Arrizabagala the club-record signing, it is one of those moves that hasn't worked. The Spanish keeper had a save percentage of just 54.5% which was the worst for any player playing more than five matches.
A lot of the reason behind Chelsea underperforming their xG comes from Kepa's failures behind the net. Infact, one does not have to look at stats to figure out that he struggles at a keeper's most basic requirement which is to save shots.
Multiple times this season, the Spaniard has let in goals which one expects him to save. His performance at Anfield in Chelsea's 5-3 defeat against Liverpool was a classic example of the same.
Moreover, the former Bilbao man has clearly lost the faith of his manager and does not seem to inspire any confidence in the defenders playing in front of him. Further, his inability to command the box contributes to the indecisiveness that exists in Lampard's backline and leaves the team vulnerable on set-pieces.
Ultimately, there is a lack of vocal leadership on the pitch which is evident by how frequently the back-line is out of shape and coordination. Neither Kepa nor any defender has stepped up and taken responsibility for organizing the defense.
Quality is the only answer
While its correct to ask questions of Frank Lampard, judging him before letting him get players of his choice at the back is slightly premature. One must remember how much Pep Guardiola continues to spend to improve Manchester City's back-line. Chelsea's current struggles are not very different from what Liverpool faced under Jurgen Klopp before signing Virgil Van Dijk and Alisson.
If managers of their stature deserved new players to stop leaking goals, there is no reason to believe Lampard will not do better with more quality on his hands. This is why the signing of Thiago Silva could turn out to be Chelsea's most important signing of the window.
While being 36 years of his age, Silva in PSG's Champions League run has shown that he is still among the best defenders on the planet. Moreover, the former PSG captain's experience will help the younger defenders playing alongside him and his leadership quality is something Lampard's side desperately needs.
Similarly fellow recruit Ben Chilwell should help massively in a troublesome position for Chelsea (left-back). His athletism and pace will offer a massive upgrade over Marcos Alonso and Emerson who have been found lacking all season. Also, the English international's aerial prowess could go a long way in reducing the issues Blues face from set-pieces.
However, a new goalkeeper has to remain a big priority for the Blues otherwise its hard to see things changing to a large extent.
If with better quality at the back, the problems persist, Lampard will not have anywhere to hide. While buying better players, he will have to take ownership of his mistakes, correct them, and adapts his tactics to help this Chelsea team become as solid as a team as the one he played in.
