Wolves manager Julen Lopetegui has opened up on Graham Potter's Chelsea sacking as he prepares to face Frank Lampard on Saturday. The Spaniard has overseen an impressive turnaround since joining the club but won't be in the mood for handing out any welcome home presents for his opposite number.
Lampard was appointed as caretaker manager at Stamford Bridge until the end of the season on Thursday after Potter was dismissed following the 2-0 loss to Aston Villa. His first game in charge comes at the ground in which one his highest moments occured first time round.
In September 2019, in the early days of his reunion with the club, Lampard took a young Chelsea side to Molineux and won 5-2 with academy graduates scoring all of the goals. A little over 12 months later and a late 2-1 defeat at the hands of the same opposition laid the foundation for his eventual downfall.
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Plenty has changed since then though and this time Lampard is trying to become the saviour of a tough situation. Lopetegui, a master of European football with Sevilla, never faced Potter but did have a message for the outgoing head coach. “First of all, I’m sorry for Graham Potter, but welcome to the new coach Frank Lampard," he said ahead of the game.
"We have to put the focus on ourselves, our team. Chelsea’s is maybe one of the best squads in the world, top players in all the positions, a lot of top players. Of course, it’s a new coach, we don’t know if he’s going to change anything or not, but it’s not under our control. We have to put the focus on our work."
Lopetegui isn't the only one unsure of what to expect from Lampard's Chelsea. It may well give the Blues a surprise advantage heading into the game with no easy way to prepare for what is to come. Potter's side would move between formations at will whilst Lampard was tactically flexible in his time too.
“It’s very different, it’s a new team, a new time. It’s the same coaches, Frank and me, but it’s a different moment, with different teams, so it’s going to be different," Lopetegui explained. The pair came head-to-head earlier this season when Everton played the Midlands-based side.
Wolves won that one 2-1 with a late goal but Lampard has already had an even bigger victory than that over the Spaniard. In 2020 he masterminded a 4-0 away Champions League demolition of Lopetegui's Sevilla side in the group stage with Olivier Giroud getting all four.
The Wolves boss isn't taking too much from that though, saying: “We don’t know what he [Lampard] wants to change, but we know the kind of players Chelsea have and, of course, the quality as a coach Frank has. We prefer to be ready, to have our game plan. We put the focus on our daily work, to be ready to play against one set up or a different set up against a fantastic team as Chelsea.
“I can’t lose a lot of time thinking what’s going to happen [to Chelsea’s team] because we don’t know. We have to be ready to do our best and try to be very close to perfection. If you want to play these kinds of matches, you have to be very close to perfection in all the facets of the play – the offensive and defensive please, set pieces, each little detail is going to be key so we have to be ready.”
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