Is Frank Lampard getting the credit he truly deserves?

Is Frank Lampard getting the credit he truly deserves?

Chelsea fans everywhere knew what a tough season ahead it would be. With the loss of their greatest ever player, Eden Hazard, a transfer ban and losing manager, Maurizio Sarri, to Juventus. It's fair to say morale was low at Stamford Bridge.

Frank Lampard becomes Chelsea manager

The Chelsea board knew they had to restore the passion in the club. Fans were split about Chelsea's style of play, with half the fans calling Sarri out and the rest wanting him to stay. 

The appointment of Frank Lampard changed everything. A promise of academy players to be injected into the squad, something the previous Chelsea manager lacked at doing. Callum Hudson - Odoi and Ruben Loftus -Cheek were stand out players for Chelsea last season but due to their age, Sarri favoured a more experienced line up. 

It has taken the perfect storm for Chelsea to finally accept their youth products with Lampard introducing 12 new academy graduates to the first team. As soon as Lampard arrived, he made his intentions clear. Out with the old and in with the new. Club legend, David Luiz, was sold to rivals, Arsenal, to make room for younger talent. 

Lampard deserves full credit for having the confidence in giving these players a chance. There were rumours of even Jose Mourinho returning for a third spell as Chelsea boss instead making the chances of academy players breaking through, very little.

Mourinho's last game in charge of Chelsea 

Mourinho gave Kevin De Bruyne, Mohammad Salah and Romelu Lukaku a mere 8 starts in his second spell. A man for winning now and not bothering about tomorrow. If Mourinho was managing this Chelsea side, Olivier Giroud, Pedro, Willian, David Luiz and Marcos Alonso would all be starting. No youth, only experience and long rants about the problems he has had to counter.

Lampard deals with it. No complaints, he gets on with the situation. He has managed to perfect the balance of youth and experience in the starting XI showing how in touch he is with modern day football. Doing the double over his former master came as no surprise. 

A main problem Lampard has had to deal with is of course, the transfer ban. Managing to keep up with the big spenders in the Premier League is, in my opinion, Lampard's biggest success since being at the club. Man United were the leagues top spenders with a whopping £148m, whilst Chelsea could only sign Matteo Kovacic due to a transfer loophole they found in their ban. Not to mention losing their best player, Eden Hazard, Chelsea's squad has been completely downgraded. 

But yet, Chelsea seem to be in third spot above both Manchester United and now Leicester! It's quite an incredible accomplishment to be at this stage of the season, four games to go and be above a team that has spent over triple to what you have. 

Lampard alongside Pep Guardiola at Stamford Bridge

This, in my opinion, is where Frank Lampard doesn't get enough credit. Even when he had tactically out smarted Pep Guardiola's Man City, the media weren't talking about Frank Lampard's masterclass but instead, Liverpool's title win. 

Lampard doesn't get nearly enough attention to what he's achieving at Chelsea than the rest of the league managers do. He has won more Manager of the Month awards than Mourinho, Guardiola and Ancelotti this season. He has also been nominated again for the month of June.

Even pundits couldn't predict what a wonderful job Frank would do. Only 6 out of the 24 BBC pundits predicted Chelsea would get top four at the start of the season, doubting Lampard's abilities as a manager. 

For me, Chelsea fans and the media don't quite realise what a fantastic job he has done. For Chelsea to be in a chance of Champions League football next season and the possibility of reaching an FA Cup final, is far beyond what anyone else could of imagined. 

Frank Lampard is not one for the future but one for now. 

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