Chelsea youngsters are failing to see regular playing time under Frank Lampard
Frank Lampard asserted that Chelsea’s current dismal performance was the result of the inadequate use of numerous young players this season.
The Blues signed a number of young players under Todd Boehly, including Noni Madueke, Carney Chukwuemeka, David Datro Fofana, Mudryk, Fernandez, and Benoit Badiashile.
Even though the former Benfica midfielder has been a consistent starter, Mudryk and Badiashile saw little action, and the others have found it difficult to secure playing time.
However, a plethora of signings left the Blues with a bloated squad, making it difficult for Graham Potter to conduct practises. This resulted in a run of defeats that led to Potter’s dismissal.
Under temporary manager Frank Lampard, the Blues are now in 12th place and have gone winless in their previous five games. Speaking to the press conference Lampard stated why new signings have seen less game-time, he said: as quoted by journalist Simon Philips:
“Young players coming in, because of the performance of the team, are expected to make a difference. In an ideal world, you want to bring in those players with stability, performances, and results where they can find their time.”
We made most of our acquisitions in the spur of the moment, and since this is a very competitive league, they won’t necessarily have an immediate impact. They will need a season or two to get used to it.
We could see that under Graham Potter, he seldom gave young players a chance. Mykhaylo Mudryk, Noni Madueke, David Datro Fofana, and Carney Chukwuemeka hardly got to play since Potter preferred senior players who themselves were out of shape.
While under Frank Lampard, only Madueke and Mudryk have seen meaningful action, this could be reasonable given that the 44-year-old doesn’t want to take a chance on playing them in case their poor performance results in them being held accountable for the team’s loss. Even Mudryk and Madueke haven’t been regular starters because of a midfield diamond under Lampard that uses four central midfielders and just one forward – usually Raheem Sterling.
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Or, it could be that he wants to keep their confidence intact so they don’t take the blame for our fall. His comments are right. In an ideal world, young players should have been signed when the base of the team was very, very solid and the team were on the up. The January window just added a number of young players to a team struggling for results with gaping holes in the starting XI, such as at centre-back or centre-forward, that needed filling by world-class, established names.