01 Oct 2020 12:08:11
I think the criticism of Lampard's lack of tactics / clear style of play is a little harsh - at the moment.
I think we need to remember this is only his third season in management, we knew we were getting a young inexperienced manager and went into it with our eyes wide open. He's going to grow into the role and the Lampard way of paying will hopefully develop over a period of time. There remains a need to be patient - to a certain degree.
In his first season with us he obviously couldn't bring any players in, he had to adjust any pre-percieved style of play he wanted to implement around what he had. This season there are a lot of new players in. You'd think they've been bought to fit into the description of how he wants to play, but they still need to be drilled in training, at the moment we're clearly relying on individual talent to get us through; rather than a team ethos.
As I said in a previous post, I believe patience will run out if things haven't improved in this respect by the end of December. Until then I think it's really difficult to judge Lampard.
01 Oct 2020 13:12:13
Do you think as a defensive unit we’ve improved from when frank took over? I know we can mention players but we have better defenders than most other teams or are better drilled and more organised than us, ?
01 Oct 2020 13:24:44
All I'll add is 6 EPL goals conceded so far, 5 can be attributed to individual errors. In those matches too, we weren't short of opportunities to kill off those games but we didn't take them. Those are elements you see in a team that is just trying to gel. Consistency and time 🔑.
01 Oct 2020 13:50:29
Yes CFCShak and even the best manager in the world - which we hope Frank will become! - cannot easily prevent such errors or strikers missing chances.
01 Oct 2020 15:30:35
Nobody can legislate for individual errors. Some of the mistakes have been so elementary that you wouldn't think training for such errors is required. As for our attackers missing open, simple chances and bread and butter passes, again that is just as bad as the defenders making mistakes. I won't blame Lampard for that at all.
01 Oct 2020 15:40:35
I think a lot of the problems came from defenders and a goalkeeper he inherited. Coaches can do a lot but, as already pointed out, it's down the the individuals to maintain concentration and cut out errors. We've been rife with individual errors, and players need to sort that.
Also a lot of our problems came from set pieces, which in my opinion were caused by a GK who wouldn't take any responsibility for balls coming into his box. Early indications are that Mendy will certainly take control of these situations.
01 Oct 2020 15:51:31
Putting aside a natural instinct to defend and anticipate danger, I think there was and is a lot of work the coaching staff didn’t do last but can do this season. With one exception I’ve seen a much more solid set-up at set pieces. Don’t forget we did employ another coach (his name escapes me) at the start of the season and we are seeing signs of improvement.
You can work in most things with a defender but they have to have a positional instinct. Sadly for me Rudiger hasn’t got that instinct. He will have good games that’s for sure but he will always lose players and be out of position.