26 Dec 2020 21:43:33
Lampard's post match comments blaming the players will certainly go well in the dressing room. His clearly frustrated at them but does he look at himself in the mirror and think "are my players playing to their strengths in the way I set them up tactically"? . Clearly, there are players who are lacking confidence and by him saying what he did will only further kill them. Kepa's confidence was sapped out and many more may follow.
ED1 what are your thoughts on Lampard right now mate? I'm frustrated mate.
{Ed001's Note - it is a difficult one, the guy is making mistakes but that is how we learn, so the only way to really judge him is whether he repeats the mistakes. So far it is too early to tell, but to come out and blame the players like that is a mistake. I don't remember him doing so before, but I may have missed it. Was this a one off sign of frustration or is he doing this a lot?}
27 Dec 2020 06:42:59
I don’t think Lamps named a player or players directly but it was pretty obvious who he meant.
I am sure he hasn’t done it before, although he has talked about our finishing before and our lack of concentration/ professionalism when not holding onto leads. So I guess that contradicts my first sentence.
He also said, quite correctly, about it being his responsibility.
I also seem to remember him saying Werner looked tired. i.
27 Dec 2020 07:33:29
I really wasn't impressed with the post match comments at all. He needed to take that one on the chin. If the players aren't happy with the system, and what they're being asked to do (which, to my untrained eyes, they weren't yesterday) then they'll certainly feel like he threw them under the bus.
There was a lack of effort, that is inexcusable, but such comments are for behind closed doors. Hopefully some of the senior players will remind him of that. Not sure of the quick turnaround before Villa is a good thing or not.
27 Dec 2020 06:52:30
@Ed002:
I agree about what you said. But I think the main reason why everyone is upset is because FL is repeating some mistakes that he has been doing for at least the last 7 PL games.
For example:
Playing 433. Yeah I get it, it worked with Hakim Ziyech although not that much which is understandable because those guys haven't played together a lot, but after Hakim's injury, we have continued to play that way and I must say for the last 5 games we have been absolutely rubbish in attack. We were lucky in the game with WHU but every other game we were the 2nd best and we didn't have a proper game plan.
This takes me to my second argument. Playing Werner as a classic LW to stretch the opponent. He has been horrendous there. It's simply not his position and he expects him to do something CHO, Pulisic and Ziyech are doing as wingers.
These bad performances can't be put on a few players playing badly and making mistakes (which ironically they do) or fatigue or injuries, it's simply that we are insisting on something that hasn't worked for quite a while.
That's what I call making the same mistake a lot more than necessary.
27 Dec 2020 09:06:47
Ed1 I don't recall him doing it before and calling out players (maybe last year after the Sheffield loss) . He actually singled out Werner for criticism in the end. I wonder what that does for the guys confidence. He clearly can't play on the left as a traditional winger, his struggling a lot. You can't expect him to just click and turn into Salah or Mane (that's not him) . As Ash said some of these mistakes have been repeated.
{Ed001's Note - this might be a consequence of his time under Mourinho, who does have a tendency of targeting single players to make a point. Except it always turns round and bites him back after a couple of seasons. So that is a worry if Lampard is going to start doing that.}
27 Dec 2020 09:17:01
Maybe frank should be shouting and dictating from the sidelines, instead of standing their arms crossed.
27 Dec 2020 10:35:50
It does seem like it to be honest, like Jose he does have better relationships with others and the ones singled out have to do a lot more to get a look in the team. Usually a small mistakes leads them to being dropped. Not a good sign.
{Ed001's Note - he is young enough to learn though. The problem is that he needs to learn to look at what he could have done differently first and you don't do that if you are immediately coming out blaming others.}
27 Dec 2020 11:42:40
Thats it Ed, spot on mate. Blaming others should never be the trait.
{Ed001's Note - you can't ask others to improve if you are not willing to look at what you yourself can improve.}