TheMagicFoolBus
Full Member
I think Lampard did an incredible job at lowering expectations to the point that he created a pressure free environment for the players to operate in. I don’t even mean that as a sleight on him. I think it was a genuinely good move that has reaped the rewards.
I mean, we had a transfer ban and we lost our best player by a mile who accounted for more or less half our league goals. I don't think expectations were out of line. You're looking at things retrospectively - because the attack worked well without Hazard, you're effectively arguing that Lampard shouldn't get credit despite the fact that there were massive questions over Tammy, Mount, James, Tomori, etc. - none of these had played significant minutes in the top flight.This is not a remotely good argument given that your Hazard-less attack has functioned very very well. What reason for the shocking regression in your defensive stability?
The defensive issues are down to Kepa being absolute dogshit and the implementation of a much more open style of play especially in the absence of Kante (e.g. fullbacks pushing on, only 3 men behind the ball, etc.). Going forward, I'd hope Lampard addresses this but for me this is hardly a stick to beat him with - we were 4th in xGA this season (better than Liverpool) and I'd rather see how things go with a competent goalkeeper instead of literally the worst in the history of the PL.