the times | Tuesday July 28 2020 2GM 61
Sport
Lampard has vindicated
Abramovich’s judgmentsubmit their holiday plans to the club
and must monitor quarantine guide-
lines to ensure there is no disruption to
pre-season preparations. Klopp said
the responsibility lay with his squad to
keep up to date with the latest proto-
cols, especially those that require holi-
daymakers to self-isolate for 14 days
after returning to England from coun-
tries such as Spain.
Meanwhile, Brighton & Hove Albion
last night completed the signing of the
midfielder Adam Lallana, 32, on a
three-year deal.suffered from a transfer ban, Eden Hazard had
taken his goals and guile to Real Madrid and the
new man had only a season’s experience in the
dugout, with Derby County, who’d just failed to
get out of the Sky Bet Championship. Some
trepidation could be heard among Chelsea fans
not wanting a club legend to tarnish his
memory, yet so far Lampard has simply
enhanced his reputation.
In a difficult time for Chelsea, he stepped up.
He’s vindicated Roman Abramovich’s judgment,
and the Russian has never appeared the
sentimental type. He saw something in
Lampard. Chelsea’s benefactor must have
known that, at the very least, Lampard would
make the team far more watchable than under
Maurizio Sarri. As the club’s greatest goalscorer,
Lampard is associated with fluid, free-scoringfootball, forever an East End boy with West End
goals, but those goals are also ambitions and he
wants titles.
Lampard, 42, knows Chelsea have to confront
their defensive frailties; he played in front of
Terry and Ricardo Carvalho. He expects better.
He knows Chelsea have to work on defending
corners better — only Norwich City have
conceded more from corners. Lampard had Petr
Cech as his goalkeeper and he is now the club’s
technical and performance advisor. Replacing
the unreliable Kepa Arrizabalaga is their most
pressing close-season job.
So much thought goes into Lampard’s
management. He has always analysed the game
and now works closely with Jody Morris, the
perfect character to give him honest opinions.
Both must be aware that they have to eradicate
Chelsea’s slightly flaky nature. Which Chelsea
will turn up today? Before Christmas, they lost
to Bournemouth at home and in the next game
beat Mourinho’s Tottenham away.
Immediately after Christmas, Chelsea
succumbed to Southampton at the Bridge, then
prevailed at Arsenal three days later. They have
to break this cycle, instil a stronger, more
sustained winning mentality. More recently,
Chelsea overcame Manchester City at home,
then slipped up at West Ham in their next
Premier League game.
Lampard has made mistakes but he clearly
improves players, as seen with Christian Pulisic
while the great lament at the Bridge over the
past decade, to believe in the academy, has
finally been answered. He’s backed Tammy
Abraham, Billy Gilmour, Callum Hudson-Odoi,
Reece James, Mason Mount and Fikayo Tomori,
using them on a combined 138 occasions in the
Premier League alone. Balancing incoming stars
with home-grown talent will be a juggling act
but Mount and James will remain prominent.
Lampard is building a new, dynamic Chelsea,
writing a new chapter in the club’s history and
maybe even penning a few notes to those on the
field — “WIN”.for acquiring trophies and silencing doubts is
undiminished. It needs recalling that 354 days
ago, as the season dawned, few felt a novice
manager, who still gets the “L” plate
treatment in “Lampard” headlines, would
pass his first managerial test.
Of the 24 ex-players polled by the
BBC last August, only Matthew Upson,
Ruud Gullit, Mark Schwarzer, Rachel
Brown-Finnis, Chris Waddle and Joleon
Lescott gave Lampard’s side any hope of
finishing in the top four; of the 24,
22 had Tottenham Hotspur
nailed on to make the
Champions League, with
Arsenal backed by 14. That voting
pattern was repeated across the
media. It was forgiveable: ChelseaFerguson forgives Klopp for early-hours call
league. Thank you. But any way you
thoroughly deserve it. Well done.”
The admiration between the two is
mutual with Klopp, 53, stating in a
video message of his own: “I know it is
not 100 per cent appropriate as
Liverpool manager, but I admire him.
“He was the first British manager I
met. We had breakfast together. It was
long ago and I am not sure he remem-
bers, but I remember it for ever because,
in this moment, it was like meeting the
Pope.”
Liverpool’s players have had toIgnore any errors, Lampard is real deal
Henry Winter
Chief Football Writer
B
ack in the days when Frank Lampard
directed Chelsea operations on the
pitch rather than from the dugout, he
would be handed notes by substitutes
joining the action. The missives from
José Mourinho contained short tactical
instructions and also one-word commands like
“WIN”.
Back in those momentous title-winning years
of 2005 and 2006, Lampard loved that positivity
of his charismatic manager, that winning
mentality. He respected Mourinho’s predecessor,
Claudio Ranieri, but confided his frustration to
his friend and team-mate, John Terry, about the
Italian’s caution.
Ranieri occasionally focused in pre-match
briefings on what opponents could do to
Chelsea, including videos of Arsenal’s Thierry
Henry destroying a defence, rather than the
damage Lampard and company could inflict on
them. Mourinho blew into Stamford Bridge like
a hurricane, spreading confidence, almost
arrogance, and a hunger for victory.
Throughout a distinguished, trophy-filled
playing career, Lampard looked and learnt from
managers, including in the art of motivation.
Having won the title in 2005, Lampard soon
realised why Mourinho was behaving slightly
coldly towards his players at the start of the
following season. Mourinho wanted each of his
champions to consider why their manager was
aloof, making them reflect on their personal
performance levels, and raising them. Lampard
responded again, powering to another title.
Winning is ingrained in Lampard’s mindset. It
is why he responded to congratulations about
Chelsea qualifying for the Champions League
on Sunday by placing the achievement into
perspective. “It’s Chelsea,” he replied. “We need
to be competing for titles.” This season has still
been encouraging and may yet bring the FA
Cup, but for somebody who won three Premier
Leagues and a Champions League at Chelsea,
Lampard has higher standards, loftier ambitions.
Rival fans, and some rival managers, believe
the former England midfielder gets an easy ride
from the English media still smitten by lingering
love for the Golden Generation. Management,
though, is not a popularity contest. If
it were, Ranieri would be linked
with the top jobs.
Belief in Lampard’s managerial
potential stems from long
awareness of his driven nature, the
work ethic that had him pounding
the streets of Romford as a West
Ham United apprentice to build
up his stamina, then buying
spikes to improve his pace, then
leaving for Chelsea to advance
his career, to “WIN”. Now he’s
back at the Bridge, that appetiteMICHAEL REGAN/AFP/GETTYFA’s weighty problem
G
iven that the FA is sponsored by a
fast-food chain, a crisp manufacturer, a
fizzy-drink company and a maker of
chocolate bars, English football cannot be too
condescending towards the government’s
latest, limited plans to address the national
obesity crisis. Calorie-counting is a good idea,
but so would be counting how many children
are not getting enough exercise. If No 10,
working with the FA and the wealthy Premier
League, invested properly in grassroots and
school sports, improving facilities, making
access cheaper, supplying coaches, then the
long-term benefit is obvious for the nation’s
health, both physical and mental.Lethal Vardy a work in progress even at 33
T
he man with the
Golden Boot, Jamie
Vardy, is arguably
becoming an even better,
more effective striker at 33.
Vardy’s numbers are
fractionally lower than in his
epic title-winning season
with Leicester City in2015-16, this time managing
23 goals and five assists from
35 games compared with
24 and six from 36. The
eye-catching development is
in goals scored with his left
foot: nine this time as
opposed to four in that
fabled season when he wasvoted Footballer of the Year
(he scored 11 with his right
foot in this campaign and 18
in 2015-16). Vardy has clearly
worked hard on striking
with his left foot to enhance
his all-round lethal touch, a
reminder that top players
never stop developing.Vardy, denied by Emiliano Martínez, of Arsenal, has become more productive with his left foot
Late start for European finalists
disappointingly small viewing figures.
It is understood those included the four
games Amazon made available for free.
In broad terms, matches involving
Liverpool and Manchester United have
dominated viewing figures over the
past two months. Arsenal, who once
were seen as the No 3 club in terms of
TV audiences, are now back in a chas-
ing pack alongside Manchester City,
Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur.
The experiment of having all match-
es available to watch will inform think-ing when the Premier League puts out
its tender for the 2022-25 TV rights,
which is due to be completed in Februa-
ry, with clubs believing the existing TV
model remains the most valuable one.
The Premier League is not expected
to issue next season’s fixtures until as
late as August 21. If a Premier League
club reaches the final of the Champions
League or Europa League — on August
23 and 21 — they may be allowed to
delay their start to the domestic league
to give their players a longer break.
BT Sport is again expected to make
both finals available to watch for free.continued from back
this season’s recipient after guiding
Liverpool to their first title since 1990.
“Jürgen, fantastic,” Ferguson said.
“We speak about Leeds spending 16
years in the Championship, but Liver-
pool [have gone] 30 years since winning
that league. Incredible. And you thor-
oughly deserve it. Your personality
runs right throughout the whole club.”
Ferguson joked: “I will forgive you for
ringing me up at half past three in the
morning to tell me you had won thecontinued from back