As Frank Lampard tried to explain why Chelsea’s campaign has gone to such remarkable lows, there was one sideline that probably said more than intended.
“Somewhere this season we have lost that kind of feeling,” the interim said as regards his team’s intensity. It came amid some long answers where he spoke about the various ways he could recover that feeling, and what can actually be done.
Most conspicuously, but perhaps not unexpectedly, Lampard insisted the naming of a new manager wouldn’t change anything.
“No, it makes no odds to me.”
That isn’t that surprising since it is something entirely out of Lampard’s control, so he can’t afford to even really consider it. The reality is it is going to make some odds to the players.
From the outside, it is actually easy to see what has happened with a season that has had such complications. The squad were already adapting to all sorts of new situations only for the end of the season to essentially be signalled with the Champions League elimination to Real Madrid. They tuned out, even if it wasn't intentional. It’s just what happens.
So much of the first half was reminiscent of similar collapses, not least what is happening across London at Tottenham Hotspur, and Spurs’ notorious 4-0 defeat to Liverpool in 2013-14. The focus had gone. The pride had gone.
It was, coincidentally enough, Mauricio Pochettino who restored it.
This isn’t to right now say he is the only man who can do this but there is a basic point that Chelsea could do with any sort of certainty or clarity right now. They look like a squad who need something to play towards, even if it is just a place in the next team.
Lampard did address this, too, but there is a distinctive idea of the vague plan of it in the future and the reality of a manager being named. Something suddenly changes then. Any new man goes from thinking about the squad to actually looking at it and assessing it.
It would be a step towards some sort of focus again. That is another issue with the squad, mind. It badly needs to be stripped down. The amount of choice - as Graham Potter found - has become a problem in itself because one huge temptation for any manager is to change a few things once things go wrong. It is another element that removes focus, that creates more uncertainty.
There is then another uncertainty. That is Lampard’s own future.
It is remarkable to consider that the fair thinking when he came into this interim role was that his emotional connection to the club could at least bring some response in the way that can happen, especially in cup runs. There were even fanciful ideas about winning the Champions League, with 2012 mentioned so often.
That certainly doesn’t get talked of now. The season has become something else entirely. The appointment has become something else entirely.
Despite taking over a team that were in a Champions League quarter-final having spent £600m, Lampard has probably harmed future job prospects. There has been no positive so far, beyond the chance to say goodbye in the way he never got in 2021. It has become a long goodbye, as everyone just wants the season to end.
There are still five games left. Three of them are against the potential top three. The next two are against relegation candidates.
Chelsea, incredibly, could have been one of them had it not been for Thomas Tuchel’s ten points and a record from Potter that now looks much more respectable.
It should be stressed that it is some way unfair to talk of Lampard’s long bad run given the different nature of the Everton job. That doesn’t mean it’s unfair to criticise him. Some decisions remain baffling. This hasn’t quite been a thankless task. Lampard has made it into one.
