Frank Lampard always envisaged enduring occasions such as this. He knew there would be periods of frustration mixed in with all the elation whipped up by his return to a club where he is so cherished, games where his team are exposed as a work in progress when that gap to the top two seems to gape ever larger. That acceptance does not make it any easier to take. The frown he wore at the end of his homecoming betrayed underlying concerns.
A week into his competitive tenure and contests continue to follow a familiar pattern. For a quarter of an hour here he had thrilled from the sidelines as his Chelsea team showcased everything dazzling he hopes to promote, the hosts vibrant and inventive, gloriously energetic and incisive. And yet, just as at Manchester United and against Liverpool in Istanbul, it all rather fizzled out with the initiative passed up and, steadily, momentum switching. By the end, it was an impressive Leicester who were threatening to prevail.
Written by Dominic Fifield at Stamford Bridge
This news first appeared on https://www.theguardian.com/football/2019/aug/18/frank-lampard-chelsea-homecoming-anticlimax under the title “Frank Lampard’s homecoming with Chelsea strikes a tone of anticlimax | Dominic Fifield”. Bolchha Nepal is not responsible or affiliated towards the opinion expressed in this news article.
