New manager, same old problems as Chelsea fall to Wolves

Chelsea's season continues to get worse with each passing week. They currently find themselves in the lower half of the Premier League table following an atrocious run of form.

Frank Lampard’s appointment as interim coach until the end of the season was supposed to help restore some stability to the side, but the early signs show that not much has changed.

After holding Liverpool to a goalless draw in midweek, Chelsea were expected to build on the result going into their encounter against Wolverhampton Wanderers on Saturday (April 8). However, they returned to their own ways, frustratingly playing with no intensity and consequently suffering a 1-0 defeat at Molineux.

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Blues crumble against Wolves

The biggest criticism of Chelsea under Graham Potter was that the team lacked any fighting spirit and often capitulated under the least amount of pressure. Well, the Blues once again crumbled when they faced Wolves. Despite having a larger share of the possession, Frank Lampard’s side struggled to create clear-cut chances.

And once they fell behind to Matheus Nunes’ brilliant finish, they never recovered. The front three of Kai Havertz, Joao Felix and Raheem Sterling offered very little and ended the game with just one shot on target between them.

In contrast, Wolves had four shots on target after proving more purposeful in their play. For a club that has spent hundreds of millions to improve their squad, their quality isn’t showing at the moment, as they looked listless and uninspiring against Wolves in the Premier League.

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Chelsea’s old problems resurface

Frank Lampard spoke at length about how he wanted to change the mentality of the players and get the club back to winning ways immediately during his unveiling.

However, he must have realized the enormity of the task at hand after watching his players put up such a drab performance in his first game since returning to the club.

The problems that blighted the team under Potter reared their heads during the game against Wolves, with Chelsea being largely passive and failing to react positively to an early setback.

Lampard himself wasn’t exactly blameless, as he was tactically outclassed by Julen Lopetegui for much of the game and failed to impact the game from the bench with his substitutions. He spoke of the Blues' performance and the need to do better, especially against teams fighting relegation.

“We know we are not in the position we want to be and there is always a reason for it, so I was aware of that and I did not expect to solve everything in one day. Analysing it, in a Premier League game you have to have more aggression in your game, more speed, more competitive duels that go your way, rather than the opposition,” Lampard noted after the game, as quoted by Chelseafc.com.

“That is baseline stuff against a team fighting for their Premier League lives,” he added. “It will always dictate the result of the game regardless of the talent. There was a little bit of that today and the players need to be aware of that because without that you can’t win games and be the team that Chelsea has been at different times, and we want to get back to.”

Chelsea may have a new manager in Lampard but the team’s problems remain unchanged. And based on their latest disappointing performance against Wolves, they have a long way to go before returning to their dominant best.