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Chelsea sack manager Frank Lampard, Thomas Tuchel set to replace him
Updated 21:28, 25-Jan-2021
Josh McNally
Frank Lampard, manager of Premier League's Chelsea, is fired by the club, January 25, 2021. /CFP

Frank Lampard, manager of Premier League's Chelsea, is fired by the club, January 25, 2021. /CFP

Several sources close to Premier League club Chelsea have confirmed that manager Frank Lampard has been relieved of his duties at the team and he is to be replaced by Thomas Tuchel.

Lampard is considered a legend with the club. He joined their first team in 2001 and remained a perennial fixture in the squad until the end of the 2014 season. He immediately made an impact as a nimble box-to-box midfielder and scored 147 goals in his 429 games with the club, a remarkable amount for a player considered a playmaker rather than an attacker.

During his tenure, he won three Premier League titles, four FA Cups and, most importantly, won the UEFA Champions League in the 2011-12 season. This was the ultimate aspiration for the side since their purchase by Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich in 2003.

It was this legendary tenure with the team which got him fast tracked into the manager's dug out following a brief stint as manager of EFL Championship side Derby County FC. He finished fourth in the Premier League in the 2019-20 season.

Frank Lampard, manager of Chelsea, reacts to the UEFA Champions League Round-of-16 second-leg game against Bayern Munich at Allianz Arena in Munich, Germany, August 8, 2020. /CFP

Frank Lampard, manager of Chelsea, reacts to the UEFA Champions League Round-of-16 second-leg game against Bayern Munich at Allianz Arena in Munich, Germany, August 8, 2020. /CFP

It was the 7-1 mauling by Bayern Munich that put the first nail in Lampard's coffin. Protracted by the coronavirus pandemic, the second leg took place in August 2020 (as opposed to the original scheduling of February) and Bayern's effortless 4-1 victory showed everyone that Lampard's Chelsea weren't good enough for the upper echelons of European football.

During that summer transfer window, Lampard spent £200 million (about $273.5 million) on Bundesliga strikers Timo Werner and Kai Havertz, Ajax winger Hakim Ziyech, French goalkeeper Edouard Mendy and left-back Ben Chilwell from Leicester. Alongside those additions were Ligue 1 defenders Malang Sarr and Thiago Silva from champions Paris Saint-Germain.

Typically in a transfer window, a new specialist is brought in, such as midfield maestro Thiago moving from Bayern Munich to Liverpool, or certain weaknesses are filled, Everton rebuilding their midfield with James Rodriguez and Allan, for example. This Chelsea side had new players from a wide variety of leagues in each position, essentially making it a brand new side.

Frank Lampard (R), manager of Chelsea talks to Mason Mount during a training session at Chelsea Training Ground in Cobham, England, January 18, 2021. /CFP

Frank Lampard (R), manager of Chelsea talks to Mason Mount during a training session at Chelsea Training Ground in Cobham, England, January 18, 2021. /CFP

From the very start of the 2020/21 season, they found it hard to gel. In their first 11 games, they only lost once but their wins came against significantly smaller teams (Burnley, Newcastle) and they struggled against everyone else. Werner and Havertz were goal machines in Germany; under Lampard Werner has scored 4 times in 19 games and Havertz only once in 16.

The tide started to turn following a 1-0 loss to Everton on December 12, 2020. From then to today, they have won only twice, drawn once and lost to Everton, Wolves, Arsenal, Manchester City and Leicester City; all are top four contenders and teams Chelsea should be competing with and, with the exception of Manchester City, beating. They are currently ninth in the Permier League table.

Reports from The Athletic state that Lampard was notified of his sacking following the Leicester loss on January 19, and that the gap between then and this announcement was due to the difficulties in finding his replacement. RB Leipzig's Ralf Rangnick and his successor Julian Nagelsmann were approached and, today, ex-Borussia Dortmund and PSG manager Thomas Tuchel was confirmed as Lampard's replacement.

It's clear from the search for a replacement for Lampard that Ambramovich is looking for a manager fluent in German and with experience winning in the Bundesliga to try and get his new signings playing at their best.

Thomas Tuchel (C), manager of Paris Saint-Germain, reacts to the Ligue 1 game against Girondins Bordeaux at Parc des Princes in Paris, France, November 28, 2020. /CFP

Thomas Tuchel (C), manager of Paris Saint-Germain, reacts to the Ligue 1 game against Girondins Bordeaux at Parc des Princes in Paris, France, November 28, 2020. /CFP

Tuchel won the DFB Pokal (the German equivalent to the FA Cup) with Dortmund and then won everything possible with PSG besides for the Champions League, which he finished as runner up in 2019/20. This shows he has the winning pedigree, as well as the language skill, Abramovich is looking for.

However, he is perhaps most famous for being very stubborn and falling out with club owners. His departure from Dortmund was partly facilitated by owner Hans-Joachim Watzke being unhappy with how Tuchel was willing to be very public and talk to journalists about issues within the club, and at PSG, his ongoing struggles with director of football Leonardo and celebrity players Kylian Mbappe and Neymar Jr. tended to take up more space in L'Equipe than his actual achievements as manager.

As a club legend and a fledgling manager, Lampard will have dreamt of guiding Chelsea to success. Now that has been dashed, he will definitely have to take a step down. That may have been possible earlier into his career at Chelsea but this year he has shown no aptitude for improving a struggling squad and, worse, blamed his players for his own mistakes. It's difficult to imagine where he will end up next.

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