Frank Lampard may be refusing to give up on the here and now, but his stint as Chelsea interim boss is quickly turning into a disaster that will go down in infamy.
The Blues legend was handed the job until the end of the season following the sacking of Graham Potter last month. There was the hope that Lampard’s return would spark somewhat of a resurgence, before making a permanent appointment at the start of the summer.
But to say it hasn't gone to plan would be the understatement of the century. Defeat against Brentford means the Stamford Bridge icon has now lost his first five games back in the dugout and scoring just once in the process. That has forced an accelerated recruitment process with Mauricio Pochettino expected to be named his long-term successor imminently.
On paper, there are another six matches before Lampard hands the reins over to the Argentine, and he will still be hoping for a reputation-enhancing run of form. And with that objective, he attempted to put his own stamp on the Chelsea line-up for their clash with Brentford.
That stamp doesn’t shine a particularly positive light on the recent dealings in West London either. Chelsea’s misguided transfer spree, which has eclipsed £600 million, has been the source of plenty of criticism, with the richly-assembled squad falling flat on the pitch.
Todd Boehly, undeterred by their disastrous first half of their season, sanctioned another trolley dash in January - signing eight players at an eye-watering cost of £300m. But less than three months on from the deadline, Lampard has hinted he isn’t enamoured with many of the owner’s signings.
Against the Bees, £88m signing Mykhaylo Mudryk, joined fellow January recruits Benoit Badiashile, Noni Madueke and Joao Felix on the bench. That signifies an outlay of more than £150m on talents the current boss deems only good enough to be named as substitutes.
In fact, of their acquisitions in the most recent window, only record signing Enzo Fernandez was named in the XI, with Lampard opting for a more experienced lineup. The exclusion of Felix will be particularly disheartening for Boehly, who green lighted a costly £9m deal which only saw him arrive for the second half of the season.
A red card an hour into his debut meant that the Portuguese would always be playing catch up to repay that fee, but with just two Premier League goals to his name, he has started just one of the three top-flight matches Lampard has managed.
“Players have to train, these seven games and days of training are all opportunities every day to try and show you deserve to be in the team,” Lampard said of his team selections. “As I think I've probably shown as a coach, if you do that, you'll always get an opportunity with me.”
He added: “I don't have a mentality that there's nothing to play for. We've now got seven games, four against the top four, three away from home. The run-in is really tough, there's no doubt about that.
“My interest is to see how the players react to that one because they're tough games. There's always something on those games, I understand that, and the players have to understand that.”
Needless to say it didn't work out. Nothing does with Chelsea at the moment. And Boehly will be praying that the next man in charge has a more favourable view on his laughably poor investment strategy.
