Regardless of that revolving door otherwise known as the Chelsea managerial hot seat, one of the very few constants during Roman Abramovich’s Stamford Bridge stay has been the on-pitch consistency of Frank Lampard. Come who or what may, Blues fans (and us fantasy footy managers) could be rest assured in knowing that Lamps would always produce the goods.
Until now, it seems. With the introduction of Carlo Ancelotti and his beloved diamond, Chelsea’s new tactics are undoubtedly having an effect on their number 8’s output. So much so that many posts on the FFS site have revolved around the question: “Is Frank still worth having?”
Having been set in stone as a must-have pick over the last few seasons, is it too early to write Lamps off just yet? Set-piece wise, he still takes his share of corners and direct free-kicks, and is the club’s number one penalty taker. FPL-wise, too, he has 25pts, only 2 less than top scoring midfielder Aaron Lennon. But at 12.5m, he has to stand head and shoulders above all others to justify taking up such a large slice of our transfer budgets. So how is he faring under Carlo? Let’s check out the stats…
As Chelsea have had four league outings under Ancelotti, that is where the following comparisons shall therefore lie:
Lampard’s first four Premiership games under Avram Grant:
| Opponents | Chelsea Shots | Lampard Shots |
|---|---|---|
| Bolton | 16 | 4 |
| Middlesbro | 13 | 4 |
| Man City | 21 | 5 |
| Wigan | 14 | 3 |
| Total | 64 | 16 |
Lampard’s percentage of all Chelsea attempts? 25%
Lampard’s first four Premiership games under Phil Scolari
| Opponents | Chelsea Shots | Lampard Shots |
|---|---|---|
| Portsmouth | 20 | 5 |
| Wigan | 9 | 1 |
| Spurs | 17 | 7 |
| Man City | 20 | 4 |
| Total | 66 | 17 |
Lampard’s percentage of all Chelsea attempts? 25.8%
Lampard’s first four Premiership games under Guus Hiddink
| Opponents | Chelsea Shots | Lampard Shots |
|---|---|---|
| Aston Villa | 19 | 4 |
| Wigan | 17 | 4 |
| Portsmouth | 20 | 5 |
| Man City | 24 | 4 |
| Total | 80 | 17 |
Lampard’s percentage of all Chelsea attempts? 21.3%
Lampard’s first four Premiership games under Ancelotti:
| Opponents | Chelsea Shots | Lampard Shots |
|---|---|---|
| Hull | 33 | 1 |
| Sunderland | 26 | 5 |
| Fulham | 16 | 3 |
| Burnley | 33 | 2 |
| Total | 108 | 11 |
Lampard’s percentage of all Chelsea attempts? 10.2%
The consistency of percentages under Grant, Scolari and Hiddink explain exactly why Lampard was so essential to the club’s performances under those three managers (obvious even under such a small sample of four matches) but despite the Blues recording an incredible 108 shots at goal, Lampard has bucked the trend and dropped as a result of the new system, giving every indication of how his role within Ancelotti’s set-up means the team are becoming less reliant on his individual efforts.
The above figures actually confirm that Ancelotti’s away formation is far more suited to Lampard; his 8 attempts on the road are more than any other Blues player, but when Carlo plays two up top at the Bridge? Three shots at goal out of his team’s total of sixty-six says a lot about Frank at home nowadays. There will always be exceptions (he still has the afore-mentioned set-pieces to fall back on), but in games where Chelsea play with a front pairing, his points tally will, on average, suffer.
Consider, in comparison, the overall stats of Michael Essien, who, having played a game less than Lampard, still has more shots at goal (14) and 13% of all Chelsea’s chances. One for the watch list at 7.5m. As is Michael Ballack, with 13 shots at goal (12%) and 8.1m.
More significant though, is Didier Drogba, whose 27 shots at goal means the big centre forward is responsible for 25% of all Chelsea’s efforts. At 10.8m on FPL, he’s nearly 2m cheaper than Lamps, and that percentage -pretty much identical to Lampard’s under the last three bosses- suggests that, in terms of importance to Ancelotti’s Chelsea, Didier could very well be the new Frank.