Maurizio Sarri has left Chelsea after just one season at the London club and has returned to Italy with Juventus.
With Sarri gone, the Blues are expected to offer club legend Frank Lampard a three-year deal to succeed Sarri, as per ESPN.
Lampard will have to solve a few issues after taking over as Chelsea manager. Here are 3 issues the former midfielder will have to solve at Chelsea if he gets the job:
#3 Striker problem
Chelsea haven’t yet replaced their legendary frontman Didier Drogba, who left the club first in 2012 and then returned two years later for a second spell with the club, albeit briefly.
Alvaro Morata failed badly at Chelsea and he has been loaned out to Atletico Madrid, while Gonzalo Higuaín’s loan move has come to end – another spell which was underwhelming.
Chelsea currently have a transfer ban which will not allow them to sign any players, which means that Lampard will have to make do with the players that are there at Chelsea currently.
We could maybe see Michy Batshuayi and Tammy Abraham, who were both out on loan in the 2018-19 season, given an opportunity in the first-team, but neither of them have made a big impression in the Premier League yet.
And with Eden Hazard leaving the club, Chelsea could have a serious goal-scoring problem in the summer.
#2 Jorginho vs Kante situation
One of the hotly debated topics related to Chelsea was the use of Jorginho in N’Golo Kanté’s position in the 2018-19 season by Sarri.
Kante won back-to-back titles with Leicester City and Chelsea, as well as the World Cup with France, in the holding midfield role – the position which was occupied by Jorginho under Sarri.
Could we see the influential French midfielder return to his favoured position and make an impact to the Blues team? What will happen to Jorginho if Kante does return to the holding midfield position? And who will partner Kante in midfield?
#1 Style of play
Sarriball, Sarri’s famed playing style, did wonders at Napoli, but it didn’t have the impact on the Chelsea team.
We aren’t quite sure why the Italian couldn’t replicate the same playing style that he did at Napoli; perhaps he needed time and the right players to play the way Napoli did.
Lampard preferred a 4-3-3 or 4-5-1 formation at Derby County, similar to the set-up that Chelsea employ. Lampard’s side dominated possession and made the second most number of passes in the Championship in the 2018-19 season.
It remains to be seen the tactics that Lampard uses at Chelsea and if he can move the players away from the Sarriball style of play to a much more efficient – dare I say – pragmatic approach to win games.
Chelsea currently don’t have the personnel to play the kind of football that Manchester City or Liverpool played, and it may be wise to take a leaf out of the book of former Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho, and have a more practical style of play.