The Premier League season is almost ending its fourth month, and there are still suspicions that the progress of Frank Lampard and Chelsea is just a momentous positive story with many unexplained factors, not a deserved result of his work. This may not be fair, but it is understandable, so a visit against the champions Manchester City on Saturday night can serve to cast doubt once and for all.
There are many reasons to believe that the players of the young Blue Manager are traveling north to Manchester at the right time. Not that the City is ready to raise the white flag -;it remains an exceptional team, but not as invasive as a year ago. The balance in citizens` midfield is not entirely targeted, and its defense remains an obvious weakness.
It is therefore tempting to look at this match as a chance for Chelsea, however clear that the team is still at the beginning of its development trajectory. Lampard himself is still practicing and it is quite clear that he is losing his direct encounter with Joseph Guardiola, and player by player London is weaker than the Manchester players. City are rightly the favorite and should win the match, even more so because they were injured by defeat to Liverpool.
However, if ever a cliche was more appropriate, Saturday would mean much more than one result. At the beginning of each memorable football team, there is usually a Rubicon that determines the rest of its path. In fact, this applies to every team in every sport -;there is always one specific event that serves as a starting point for writing and telling his legend.
It would be too dramatic to frame this seemingly ordinary paint match with similar colors, but still some of the topics are here. Most of all, this is true of the imprint that he can leave on a young and fragile core of football players who have not yet experienced the frosty reality of playing for a club prediction by contacts best advisor at the top of the table.
Call it Chelsea Phase 2 then.
It is important to note that the evolution so far has been mild. This should not change the context of the team`s results, but it is nevertheless appropriate to acknowledge that Lampard inherited the position of a super-unpopular predecessor and that the current generation of debutants (Mount, Abraham, Tomory and, to a lesser extent, Hudson-Odoi) had the easiest entry into Premier League life he could expect.
And this is not a criticism. These guys needed this smooth implementation, and Lampard chose the right time, feeling that last season`s hateful style gave him a field of experimentation and that the club`s transfer embargo provided him with additional protection from the inevitable drawbacks of such a big change. He boldly selected his teams and was sharp with the media when needed, and was well rewarded by t he trusted football players.
What is missing, however, are the usual Chelsea standards, where even the most beloved and established players require extremely high scores and performances. It would be normal, for example, for Ficayo Tomory`s game in Southampton to cause more discontent, as well as the slight decline of Kalum Hudson-Odoi, though it probably saves him from saying Soccer picks - more details and information: Soccer picks
