Former Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho believes that Frank Lampard has what it takes to succeed as Blues manager this season. The 41-year-old Lampard was surprisingly appointed as the West London club’s manager during the summer after Maurizio Sarri opted to resign and take on the role of Juventus manager. Some such as myself felt that it would have been better for the Blues to go with a more experienced candidate such as Rafa Benitez who has a proven track record of working well with limited resources as the Blues have had to do so far this season due to their two window transfer ban.
“One thing is the player, another thing is the manager,” Mourinho said as quoted by Metro. “The player, I don’t think any Chelsea fan will disagree with me if I say is one of the top five most important players of Chelsea history, and probably some will say not top five, maybe top three.
“Another thing is his managerial career, one year of experience in Derby where he showed good qualities and now he has Chelsea in his hands.
“He plays for big things. He plays Champions League, he played a European Super Cup, he had already big matches in his hands, and he has to grow up with the level of experiences, which I believe he can because he has huge experience.”
Lampard arrived at Stamford Bridge as a manager with only one season of managing at the highest level under his belt. He led Derby County last season in the English second-tier and they performed decently, making it to the Championship promotion playoffs and then losing the final against Aston Villa.
Lampard has performed decently so far
The Blues were never expected to challenge for the League title this season and they will not be much of a threat to Manchester City and Liverpool this season. However, they have recorded two victories against Norwich City and most recently Wolverhampton Wanderers. The victories came against two sides who look like they will finish on the bottom half of the standings this season but there are plenty of positives which can be taken from Lampard’s reign so far. The best thing which he has managed to achieve so far is get the best out of youngsters such as Mason Mount, Tammy Abraham and Fikayo Tomori. The Blues historically have a reputation of treating their young talent badly and it looks like Lampard is aiming to change the stereotype. So far, he is exceeding expectations in terms of doing that.
