Let's face it, Frank Lampard has got as good a chance of getting Chelsea to win football matches as anyone has.
Perm any eleven from an expensive, disparate bunch of players and hope for the best. That seems as wise an approach as any, considering the bizarre, but very costly, transfer business conducted by the relatively new ownership group.
There has been no rhyme or reason to Chelsea’s recruitment policy, if you can call it a policy, so any new manager is slightly hamstrung from the off.
And Chelsea have signed so many players since sacking Lampard just over two years ago that the interim boss will do well to put names to faces, never mind make a meaningful assessment of their value to his short spell at the helm.
But Lampard will know how he wants his Chelsea to shape up and several of the players who featured under Frank first time around will be vitally important. The defining Champions League tie against Real Madrid looms large, with only a few days to prepare for the first leg in Spain.
That is why Lampard will put a big onus on the players he knows and trusts, and a system he trusts. It goes without saying that Mason Mount will come in from the sidelines, his high-energy game the epitome of everything Lampard will want.
And from everything we have seen of Lampard teams, the importance of the overlapping full-back cannot be understated. That is why Reece James and Ben Chilwell will be fundamental to whether or not Lampard is a success.
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James was given his senior debut by Lampard, who also signed Chilwell for £50million from Leicester City during his first stint as manager. While Graham Potter’s tactics were sometimes hard to predict, expect a 4-3-3 from Lampard, with a midfield featuring a double pivot.
A three of N’Golo Kante, Enzo Fernandez and Mason Mount looks a strong possibility. Whatever Lampard tweaks, he cannot magic up a conventional, prolific striker and will have to think outside the box to solve the scoring problem.
The Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang ship has surely sailed but I have got a hunch Lampard will urge Raheem Sterling to step up to the scoring plate, possibly using him in a more central role.
The surprise managerial twist should also be good news for Christian Pulisic, rated as a possible game-changer by Lampard and someone who can give Chelsea the width that the new boss loves to play with. You never know, Hakim Ziyech - considering he was another Lampard recruit - might even wander in from the cold.
In the centre of defence, Lampard would love to have Thiago Silva available again and, for the Brazilian’s partner (assuming the veteran is fit), he could then take his pick from a cast of thousands
The bottom line is that, in such a short space of time, Lampard cannot hope to truly evaluate the array of players at his disposal and that is why the core of his team will be made up of characters he trusted the first time around.
In the end, of course, that core did not do enough to stop Lampard getting the boot. He will be hoping they do a bit better the second time around.
Fitness permitting, Lampard’s possible first XI: Kepa - James, Silva, Koulibaly, Chilwell - Kante, Fernandez, Mount - Havertz, Sterling, Felix.
