At Chelsea, Lampard’s Experiment May Soon Become a Test

Youth has always bought managers time. Fans are, broadly, willing to suffer a little — and only a little — today if they feel that the promise of tomorrow is genuine. For once, and in a complete volte-face from its usual modus operandi under Roman Abramovich, Chelsea seemed to agree. This would, the line came again and again, be a transitional year. Not quite a freebie, but not far off, either.

On the face of it, the gamble has worked. Chelsea sits fourth in the Premier League, possessed of a comfortable cushion over the gaggle of teams — Manchester United, Tottenham, Wolves and Sheffield United — in pursuit.

A 2-2 tie with Leicester City on Saturday meant the gap to third place remained at eight points, most likely too much to be overhauled, but no matter: a return to the Champions League would represent a more than acceptable start for Lampard. His squad already has reached the last 16 of this year’s competition, another box ticked. Getting past Bayern Munich later this month would, if anything, be exceeding expectations.

His young players, too, are flourishing. Tammy Abraham, for so long the avatar of all that was wrong with Chelsea’s approach to youth, has scored 15 goals in his long-awaited first season as the club’s first-choice striker. The midfielder Mason Mount and the winger Callum Hudson-Odoi have played their way into contention for England’s national team. Reece James has adapted so well to the Premier League that he is currently forcing Cesar Azpilicueta, the club captain, to play out of position.

That is how it seems. It is not, necessarily, how it is. Lampard was pleased Saturday with what he described as a “fair” point against Leicester — a team, after all, one place higher in the league — but it meant that Chelsea has now won only 4 of its last 13 Premier League games. That it remains secure in fourth place is not, increasingly, through its own merit, but through the failings of Manchester United and Tottenham, in particular.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/01/sports/soccer/chelsea-leicester-frank-lampard.html?emc=rss&partner=rss