It's fair to say that Frank Lampard's return to Chelsea hasn't yielded the desired results - for him or the Blues.
Chelsea were in turmoil long before Lampard was drafted in to replace Graham Potter last month, but the Stamford Bridge legend has now lost all six of his matches since returning to the dugout, after Arsenal cantered to victory in a crunch London derby on Tuesday night.
Despite his wretched record, Lampard is expected to see the season out before Mauricio Pochettino takes charge in the summer. The Argentine is Todd Boehly's No.1 choice to take over, but the ex-Spurs and PSG boss wants to wait until the end of the season before returning to the Premier League.
Before then, there could still be plenty of short-term pain in store for Chelsea fans as their side continue to limp towards this season's finish line.
Just to rub salt into Lampard's wounds, a scathing rant Manchester United legend Roy Keane made all the way back 2020 has resurfaced in the aftermath of the Arsenal defeat - and the Irishman's blunt verdict on Lampard has aged rather well.
Speaking on Sky Sports during Lampard's initial Stamford Bridge tenure, Keane questioned the former Chelsea man's managerial pedigree with his typical ferocity.
He said: "Frank Lampard's lost eight games, but for some reason 'Frank's doing alright'. Maybe because he's English, I don't know. Frank's track record, his CV, he went to Derby and didn't get promoted.
"But Frank's got all the answers for Chelsea? He hasn't."
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Lampard's stock was already on the wane after his year-long stint in charge at Everton, who are entrenched in the relegation battle at the foot of the Premier League after a rotten campaign.
But the defiant Blues boss made it clear that the bulk of the current issues plaguing the club can be attributed to the chaos that has occurred behind the scenes at Stamford Bridge since Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital completed their takeover last May.
“Chelsea has been a big success for 20 years but at the moment we aren’t in that position,” Lampard told Sky Sports after the crushing midweek defeat at Arsenal. “In the time I’ve been here it’s clear to see behind the scenes, on the training ground, the reasons why. If you’re going to be a nice team to play against all the time it doesn’t matter where you go. That won’t change overnight but we better get there quickly.
“The passive nature of our game you could attribute to many things. The players certainly care. They are low on confidence, but when you play for Chelsea you have to play a certain way even if you are low on confidence.
“Whatever it is, it maybe doesn’t even matter because the only thing that will get you out of it is understanding and working hard. The gap was the other way around for many years.”
