For Chelsea and Frank Lampard, three Premier League defeats in four matches counts as a slump.
The latest came this afternoon (Saturday) in the 3-1 loss to Everton at Goodison Park, in a performance that massively failed to inspire.
Interim Toffees boss Duncan Ferguson made the brave decision to go for a 4-4-2 formation, something that is rarely seen in the modern game.
It certainly worked, however, with the Blues being out fought by the hosts and losing the physical battle all over the pitch.
However, there will be one tactic that has arisen over the past few matches that might worry Lampard and will need a solution.
Caretaker boss Ferguson said after the game that he tried to make sure that he players stopped any balls through the middle.
“I had it in my mind [4-4-2], and being at Goodison then it might get the fans behind us and look like we were going more attacking,” Ferguson said.
“It think it worked well, the two strikers, to put pressure on the ball and I think that we did that.
“We closed off their inside passes, trying to force them wide, which you could see that and when the ball went wide then we could go and put pressure on and stop penetrating passes through us.”
Ferguson, however, is not the first manager to have tried this and have some success against the Blues this season.
After the West Ham defeat last weekend, striker Michail Antonio revealed that the Hammers had the exact same gameplan.
“It was to disrupt them, just let them have the ball, don’t let them come through the middle of us because we know they always like to come inside,” he said.
“So we showed them the outside and got them to cross the ball because we know with Angelo [Ogbonna] and Fabien [Balbuena] at the back, we are going to eat up all the crosses that are going to come in. And that’s what we came and did. They didn’t really get in between us at all so the gameplan worked.”
The Blues have a variety of talented players throughout the squad, but there is a case for suggesting that they are too dependant on the central areas.
Mateo Kovacic, Jorginho and N’Golo Kante all look to play through the middle, with Christian Pulisic likes to cut in and Willian wants to involve himself in the play.
With Cesar Azpilicueta at left-back, there isn’t that natural threat in that role, with the club captain being dominantly right-footed.
The only outlet really becomes Reece James, and while he has a superb cross on him, the Blues don’t have a great amount of height in the box.
Abraham is decent in the air, but Pulisic, Willian and Mount are unlikely to trouble the likes of most Premier League centre-backs.
It will be up to Lampard and the Blues to find a solution to the issue, however, as Lille and Bournemouth this week could well cause the same problems.
