The Times - UK (2020-06-29)

Ross Barkley revealed that Frank
Lampard told the Chelsea players at
half-time that their performance was
not worthy of the club.
“I thought we weren’t at our best
today,” the midfielder, who scored his
third FA Cup goal of the season, said,
before adding that Lampard had told
the players at the interval that it was
“not good enough for the Chelsea
badge to be performing like that”.
The Chelsea manager was so
disappointed by the first-half effort
that he made a triple substitution at
half-time, hauling off Billy Gilmour,
Reece James and Mason Mount.
“Today we lacked urgency and
intensity in the first half,” Lampard
explained. “We needed to drag
ourselves out of what was a lethargic
performance and we did, to be fair.”
Lampard said he had given a lot of
thought to how to exploit the new
five substitutes rule and that it
“certainly was handy” in this instance.
The triple change sent out a signal
that he was deeply unimpressed and
prepared to make radical changes.
“I don’t think we’ve played that
badly this season for 45 minutes,”
Lampard said. “We’ve played a lot

we’d done.” Leicester, who missed

the creative James Maddison, who

has a hip injury and could miss

Wednesday’s game against Everton,

have been slow off the mark after

the restart, drawing with Watford

and Brighton & Hove Albion before

this defeat.

“This will give us confidence,”

Rodgers said. “We’ve got to find the

last step, getting back to that real

clinical edge and if we can do that we

can finish up with a great season.”

Winning a domestic cup was high

on his priorities, but the team fell just

short, losing in the semi-finals of the

Carabao Cup and yesterday failing to

reach the same stage of the FA Cup.

“[The cups] were part of our goal.

We are very determined to win

something,” Rodgers said. “We’ve

given respect to both competitions

but just fell short on both.”

The city of Leicester has suffered a

spike in Covid-19 cases, prompting

suggestions that the club would have

to play their remaining home fixtures

at a neutral venue.

“As a football club we’re very

protected,” Rodgers said. “We’re in a

bubble, the players are tested twice a

week. We couldn’t be in a better place,

so that gives you the confidence to

continue your work.”

the times | Monday June 29 2020 2GG 5

Gregor Robertson

visits ?????????????????

son

??? ???

be

?

Greg Ro

s

GGregor Robertson

???????????

TONY

CASCARINO

Weekend talking points

I don’t understand why people

are speculating that John

Terry might step up and replace

Dean Smith as Aston Villa manager

if they cannot turn their form

around. Terry was one of the best

and most influential Premier

League defenders of his generation,

so if there is anything he ought to

be showing as Smith’s assistant at

Villa Park, it’s that he can coach and

organise a defensive unit. But Villa

have conceded more goals than any

other team in the Premier League,

so I am left scratching my head at

the idea Terry has made any sort of

case to be in the running for Smith’s

job. Ultimately, the role that most

needs filling by someone who

knows what they are doing is head

of recruitment. Villa’s transfer

policy has been a mess, not just in

terms of the incredible amount of

money they have spent since

promotion — more than

£145 million — but in the approach.

They seem to have signed multiple

players for the same positions, for

example at goalkeeper or centre

half, without any real idea what

they want or who the best player is

for each position. It’s almost like

they see themselves as a fishing

boat dragging a huge net across the

seabed — if they spend enough

money on enough different players,

they will end up with something

worth keeping. Compare that to

Wolves, who beat them on

Saturday. Almost all of their

signings have improved their team,

and the ratio of successful signings

to poor ones is so much higher than

Villa’s. There is not a single player

Villa have signed who has been a

roaring success.

TEAM OF THE WEEK

Krul

Norwich

Walker

Man City

Tierney

Arsenal

Coady

Wolves

Maguire

Man Utd

Pépé

Arsenal

Ings

Southampton

Pulisic

Chelsea

Barkley

Chelsea

De Bruyne

Man City

Ward-Prowse

Southampton

4-3-3

James lacks maturity to

be Chelsea’s right back

Forget Terry – Villa’s top

priority is recruitment

Of the three half-time changes

that Chelsea manager Frank

Lampard made at Leciester, taking

off right back Reece James was the

most significant by far. Unlike Billy

Gilmour, James is not a kid feeling

his way into first-team football. He

has had 28 games for Chelsea, and a

full season in the Championship on

loan at Wigan before that. And yet

he is still guilty of the same key

positional mistakes he has been

making all along. His defensive

instincts fail him so often that he

keeps allowing runners to find space

behind him. Of all the young

players at Chelsea, James has the

best chance to make a career at the

club because the only guy in front

of him is a 30-year-old, César

Azpilicueta. But at the moment he

has an attacking style that might

work from wing-back but not in a

back four at the top level.

Alexander-Arnold is best

ever so why move him?

My advice to Liverpool now

would be: don’t try to change

too much. Any signings they make

should just be as cover, for Andy

Robertson at left back, for Roberto

Firmino up front, and maybe also at

centre-half. But there a very few

players in the world who will

improve the first XI, and the team is

getting better. They barely made a

signing last summer, and yet they

have improved. I wouldn’t be trying

to move Trent Alexander-Arnold

into midfield, either. In Liverpool’s

4-3-3 system, playing him at right

back allows him to be more creative

than he would be in midfield, where

Klopp prefers more functional

players. So switching Alexander-

Arnold would reduce his potential

to provide assists, which is what he

is world class at. I think he may

already be the club’s best right

back.

Come on Gareth — give

Ings role he deserves

Danny Ings is the closest thing

England have to Harry Kane,

apart from the man himself, so he

deserves to be Kane’s deputy at

international level. Like Kane, he

never stops running and putting

defenders under pressure, and like

Kane his finishing always looks very

deliberate, as though he is in total

control of what is happening. Of

course England have attackers who

offer more in other ways, but if

Gareth Southgate is looking for a

back-up to Kane in the traditional

No 9 role, then it should be Ings.

Blunt Blades just need a

cutting edge up front

I’m not too worried about

Sheffield United’s poor run of

results since the restart because

they played well against Arsenal.

But one thing that has been clear

during this tricky patch is that they

are going to need to find a striker

with a bit more class if they want to

keep building next season in the

way they have been doing since

Chris Wilder took over. The defence

is solid and the midfield work hard.

All Wilder’s strikers are giving

everything but a bit of extra quality

would make a big difference.

better than that and lost games, in

fact. When it looks like I’m criticising,

I’m actually positive that that’s not

the norm for us, it had to be

addressed. We knew we needed more

— and they delivered more.”

The players he hauled off were all

21 or under; for Gilmour in particular

it was a blow, given how the 19-year-

old Scot had been fêted in the last two

games before lockdown, but Lampard

insisted that the youngsters would

cope just fine with being taken off.

“They can take it on board, they are

all good lads. They are going to be top

players for this club, no matter what.

I’ve got no worries, it was just

circumstances today.

“The performance was lethargic for

the whole team and they were part of

that. If I had a problem with attitude

and work ethic, I would talk about it,

[but] I don’t have it with them.”

Brendan Rodgers interpreted the

triple substitution as evidence of his

team’s fine performance, even though

Leicester City failed to take advantage

of Chelsea’s first-half slump.

“It was a good start,” the Leicester

manager said. “We created

opportunities, but that final pass or

effort into the net is not falling for us

at the moment. They were forced into

making three changes, that’s how well

‘That was our worst half of the season’

ALYSON RUDD

Barkley, who

replaced

Gilmour, left,

made the

difference

for Chelsea

TIM KEETON/REUTERS