Chelsea were expected to be the next team after Manchester City to challenge Liverpool for the Premier League title this season but after 17 games, the Blues find themselves ninth on the table with 26 points.
Chelsea have picked up just one win in their last five league outings and their last game ended in an embarrassing 3-1 loss at the hands of Manchester City.
During the past month, Lampard’s men have gone down to Everton, Wolves, Man City and even the underperforming Arsenal. Yes, the Blues have performed miserably but the one point no one is talking about is the lack of leaders in the first-team squad.
Despite Thiago Silva, Chelsea do not have any big characters inside the dressing room and according to Paul Merson, this absence of a charismatic figure has cost Lampard’s men a lot of points.
“If you look at Southampton’s performance against Liverpool, they all looked like they knew what they were doing,” Merson told Sky Sports.
“When one goes, they all go, when one holds, they all hold. It’s like clockwork regardless of the score or the stage of the game.
“Contrast that to how Chelsea collapsed against Manchester City. I was so surprised. Chelsea played so well in the first half, got excited and then went behind. At that moment they needed someone to calm things down to stay in the game for the next 15 minutes, but they kept on playing, opened the game up and were punished.
“Something needs to click again with Chelsea because I don’t see a leader. Regardless of the instructions Lampard gave before the game, someone on the pitch has got to take responsibility.
“Kevin De Bruyne’s goal after Manchester City broke from a corner is the kind of goal you would expect to see in the final minute of the cup tie when you are losing and go gung-ho for a late goal, not 34 minutes into the first half of a match.
“It was unbelievable and the kind of thing you would not expect to see in an under-six football match. With the amount of talent Chelsea had on the field and on the bench, there was plenty of time left in the match for them to turn things around, but they shot themselves in the foot.”
Silva was brought in to add some calm inside the dressing room but even the Brazilian now looks clueless when things are going haywire on the pitch.
Over the past two years, Lampard allowed players like Willian, Pedro and David Luiz to leave but the Chelsea boss has not managed to bring in apt replacements.
The London side take on the likes of Leicester, Wolves and Spurs in their next couple of matches in the Premier League and if someone from the dressing room does not stand up and take charge then players like Havertz, Mount and Timo Werner will once again be running like headless chickens.