ANALYSIS Chelsea lost to Frank Lampard's tactical ineptitude, not Real Madrid

Frank Lampard's inability to understand and interpret tactics was evident in Chelsea's 2-0 defeat to Real Madrid.

For a team that had already lost 15 games across all competitions this season, another defeat, especially at the home of the Champions League title holders should not be a surprise.

But from a Chelsea perspective, the 16th loss of a truly bleak season would sting because Real Madrid were there for the taking and on a different day with better finishing and a halfway decent manager, the result might have favoured the men in blue.

Frank Lampard is already the fourth man to lead Chelsea from the touchline this season - a stat which in itself validates the point that he is not good enough to cut it at this level - there is a reason he was not anyone's first, second or third choice and he only has the job on an interim basis.

Real Madrid were there for the taking but Chelsea had no bite

The opening seven minutes of the game offered insight into what could have been a different night for Chelsea but the 83 minutes that followed was a painful crash back down to earth, a grim reality where the away team was significantly lacking in quality and confidence compared to their hosts.

Ngolo Kante is one of the few Chelsea players who seemed comfortable kicking it with the world-class talents of Real Madrid and he showed it early on by making things happen.

Had Joao Felix been more clinical, it could have been a different game but the bigger problem is that Chelsea could not fashion more opportunities of the like other than a near-own goal by Eder Militao which prompted a superb save by Thibaut Courtois.

Chelsea had 0.46 xG in the game largely thanks to Lampard’s fear-driven setup which left Joao Felix and Raheem Sterling up on their own as the only men in blue in the Real Madrid half for long stretches of the game.

Bear in mind, this was a Real Madrid team that came off the back of a 3-2 loss at home to Villarreal in La Liga over the weekend, a game in which Samuel Chukwueze alone generated 0.75 xG (scoring two stunning goals), almost double of the entire Chelsea team’s xG in the same stadium four days apart.

This is not to belittle Real Madrid who are notorious for stepping up their performance in this competition but this game was not one of those classic Champions League nights at the Bernabeu.

Los Blancos never really left first gear and posed minimal threat (by their standards) to Chelsea even when the visitors were reduced to 10 men early in the second half.

The midfield trio of Toni Kroos, Luka Modric and Fede Valverde were not at their exceptional best on the night as they lost the ball 24 times collectively against a non-existent Chelsea press.

Eduardo Camavinga, a midfielder filling in at left-back got booked as early as the seventh minute and Chelsea never tested him again or put him in a position to receive his second yellow card for the rest of the game.

A manager who reads the game well would react to that by creating an overload on the Chelsea right and Real Madrid left to isolate Camavinga with Sterling but Lampard comes across as someone who is just happy to be there. Playing against Real Madrid is privilege enough for him, no need to try to win.

Frank Lampard’s biggest mistakes

The first mistake (of many) Lampard made to cost Chelsea the game was the decision to overload the pitch with defensive players out of respect but more likely fear of Real Madrid.

A back five of Kalidou Koulibaly, Thiago Silva, Wesley Fofana, Ben Chilwell and Reece James with a midfield trio of Enzo Fernandez, Mateo Kovacic and the excellent Ngolo Kante, leaving Joao Felix and Raheem Sterling as the only attack-minded players on the pitch, which Lampard himself admitted was intentional for counter-attack purposes.

But how can counter-attacks happen without pressure or a clear ball progression plan? It appeared Lampard had just hoped Felix and Sterling would capitalise on defensive errors but Madrid were not in a generous mood.

Chelsea sat back even while trailing by a goal and before the red card, almost daring Real Madrid to do something which is precisely how the first goal happened.

The thing with world-class teams like Real Madrid is, pretty much anyone in the starting xi can cause damage with just the right amount of space which is how Chelsea let Dani Carvajal play the delightful pass to Vinicius which led to Benzema’s goal.

Halftime presented Lampard with a golden opportunity to reset by applying the lessons of the first half after Madrid had failed to exert their dominance beyond the one goal.

Chelsea would have been better served to sacrifice one of the centre-backs for a forward player in hopes of landing some punches against Real Madrid who were certainly not impregnable themselves.

Real continued to let Chelsea off the hook and the universe tried to nudge Lampard in that direction when Koulibaly pulled up injured in the 55th minute and could not carry on, presenting a chance to do what he could have done at halftime but the English manager instead brought on Cucurella as a like-for-like replacement to carry on in the same tactical shape.

Not as if the extra defensive bodies provided Chelsea with any form of defensive solidity, Vinicius and Rodrygo came and went as they pleased without much obstruction.

In Lampard, Chelsea have a manager who could not even successfully park the bus (defend) which is historically easier than driving it (attack) in football.

Not to revise history but it is hard to argue Chelsea would not have created more with Graham Potter in charge who was largely let down by poor finishing anyway rather than chance creation.

Even Bruno Saltor’s team created way more chances in his only game in charge with 2.43 xG in the goalless draw against Liverpool.

There is enough evidence across both his spells in charge that Frank Lampard is simply not equipped to cut it at this level of football management as he lacks the first and perhaps most important ingredient of every top coach which is cojones.

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