Frank Lampard is regarded by the fans as one of the greatest ever Chelsea players and, although injury has interrupted his season, he is now showing New York City supporters why he has been so successful in the game.
But whereas Lampard is hoping to finish off his career with more trophies in MLS there have been some who put Chelsea’s form last season down to the club being unable to replace their talismanic midfielder. So have Chelsea found someone who can take over Lampard’s mantle at Stamford Bridge?
Irreplaceable?
As they battle once again in the Premier League title rankings, there will be a lot of Chelsea fans who would say that they would never be able to replace a player like Lampard. His record at Chelsea speaks for itself – including being the all-time leading goal scorer. For a midfield player that is a phenomenal achievement. So if it is nigh on impossible to find a new ‘Lampard-like’ player, what can Chelsea do?
Midfield Power
With the deep pockets of Roman Abramovich, Chelsea are never going to struggle to attract and buy top players. Even after last season’s disastrous performance they could still tempt N’Golo Kante away from Leicester City even though his old club are playing in the Champions League this season while Chelsea make do with domestic competitions. Since Lampard left, Chelsea have brought in other big names such as Fabregas and Pedro to bolster an already impressive midfield, so it can’t be said that the players aren’t there.
Brazilian Skill
Along with the rest of the squad, Oscar had a below par campaign last season and there were rumours that the Brazilian midfielder would leave in the summer. He stayed and is now starting to look like the player of a couple of years ago. But when you compare him to Lampard the glaring difference is Oscar’s lack of goals. Lampard played all over the midfield and could be relied on to score. Oscar doesn’t contribute enough in that area for Chelsea.
Spanish Sensations
Chelsea beat a lot of the rivals to Pedro’s signature before the start of last season and he managed to get a few goals in an extended run in the team. He doesn’t seem as favoured by Conte this season but an injury to Willian has seen him back in the first team recently. He’s not really the same kind of player as Lampard was at Chelsea though so comparisons are probably unfair.
Cesc Fabregas is the man that Chelsea brought in when Lampard left the club and with years of Premier League experience at Arsenal it was thought that the handover would be seamless. His style of play is much more like Lampard’s than anyone else at the club but his goal return has not been that impressive. The free scoring midfielder that fans remember from his last few seasons at Arsenal has not returned and, although he regularly provides the assists, he only scored six goals in all competitions last season.
One of a Kind
While it could be said, then, that Chelsea have not adequately replaced Frank Lampard as an individual player, the midfield at Stamford Bridge is still a strong unit. No one player has taken the Lampard role but Oscar, Fabregas and Matic all contribute to support the likes of Hazard and Costa in scoring some of the goals that Lampard used to get.
Club legends will always be hard to replace and sides will usually have to adapt rather than replace. New York City are now hoping that the irreplaceable qualities that Frank Lampard possesses will bring MLS glory for them.