It’s important to stress just how good Brighton were. They were brilliant and that should be acknowledged before getting to the equally obvious point that Chelsea were laughably awful. Scorelines can be the great deceiver: this was 2-1 going on five or six. That’s 11 defeats in his last 12 games as a manager for Frank Lampard and seven in his last 10 league games with Chelsea. All he has to do next is inspire a comeback from 2-0 down against Real Madrid. Good luck.
“We were well beaten in the basics of football,” said Lampard, who described this as the most disappointing of his three defeats since being appointed Chelsea’s interim manager. “We were short, a yard short, a tackle short, a fighting moment short. You have to have the capacity as well as the desire for that and we have to turn that round quickly. We need training time but we don’t have training time. There are mitigating factors with some of the change but that can’t be an excuse.”
Brighton were yet again denied what looked a clear penalty as Christian Pulisic handled. Evan Ferguson and Julio Enciso hit the woodwork. Danny Welbeck blazed a rebound over an open net. Kepa Arrizabalaga made three exceptional saves. And Conor Gallagher’s goal, Chelsea’s first in 387 minutes, was the result of a huge deflection. Yet Brighton still won with something to spare – more impressively, Roberto De Zerbi said, than in their 4-1 win over Chelsea at the Amex earlier in the season. “We are used to analysing the game through the result but I think we played better today,” he said – although he wasn’t entirely satisfied. “We could have played better in the last 10 minutes.”
But it was victory at a cost, with Evan Ferguson and Joël Veltman limping off. They must now be considered major doubts for next Sunday’s FA Cup semi-final against Manchester United. “I think they can’t play for a minimum couple of weeks,” said De Zerbi. Both substitutes who came on scored, an indication, perhaps, of what a well-organised, well-run club Brighton are.
Veltman had struggled against the pace of Mykhailo Mudryk; his departure meant Pascal Gross switching to right-back as Enciso came on. Not only did the German deal better with Mudryk, but it was his cross for Welbeck that brought the equaliser. It was Enciso, though, who had the greater impact, capping a fine display by wandering through Chelsea’s midfield 20 minutes from time before pinging a 25-yard strike into the top corner. The Paraguayan is 19 and cost £9.5m from the Asunción club Libertad. Brighton, masters of the cleverly sourced bargain, may have done it again. The contrast to the Chelsea model is almost too stark to be worth elucidating.
Given there was no sign the dressing room had turned on Graham Potter – drifted away from him, perhaps, started to harbour vague doubts, maybe, but despised him, no – the only possible explanation for parting ways with him when they did was that they believed they had somebody more likely to beat Madrid in the Champions League. And if no less an authority than James Corden believes Lampard to be that manager, who really can argue?
But you do wonder why Lampard has made no attempt to use either of his two league games in charge to prepare for Real Madrid. The 4-3-3 he used against Wolves last week returned, although this was a starting XI featuring only five of the same starters as at Molineux, and only five starters from Wednesday’s tepid defeat at the Bernabéu. Take the pieces, throw them in the air, let them fall where they may.
When Lampard made a quadruple substitution in the 57th minute, it was hard to know whether it was desperation or an exercise in managing minutes before Tuesday’s second leg.
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That confusion perhaps in part explained what a shambles this was for Chelsea. But then shambles is the Boehly way. Whatever Lampard’s shortcomings as a manager the situation is, if not impossible, then not far off.
Chelsea are like buying a 1,000-piece jigsaw only to find there are 2,500 pieces in the box and it’s the wrong picture on the cover. It doesn’t matter if some of the extra pieces are gold-plated or studded with diamonds, it’s still a confusing mess.
