OLD TRAFFORD, MANCHESTER — After Chelsea were thrashed 4-1 by Manchester United, it was put to Frank Lampard that the next permanent Blues manager faces the toughest task of anyone in the Stamford Bridge hotseat for the past 20 years.
Lampard paused, pondering the question and all it encompassed: Chelsea's past, Chelsea's future; the latest execrable performance in an appalling season, ending in away fans at Old Trafford singing "You're nothing special, we lose every week" without a trace of irony.
In the dressing rooms, United players were quietly celebrating a job well done: an emphatic win that guaranteed a return to the Champions League. The Chelsea squad, all $650-million-plus of it, were left to ponder a season that is destined to end in their lowest points tally in the Premier League era, a bottom-half finish, the gap between them and the bottom three closer than it is to the top four.
What do you say to something like that?
"I don't know," Lampard finally replied. "It's a good headline. I don't know. It remains to be seen. I can't jump into the future."
It wasn't exactly optimistic. Surely, even if things don't immediately get better in 2023/24, they can't actually get any worse?
Over to you, Mauricio Pochettino.
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Chelsea's defeat to Man United was their ninth in their past 12 games in all competitions. Their opponents scored four times from an expected goals figure of 5.14, the highest posted by a team in a single Premier League match in 2022/23. Joao Felix's consolation goal was just the eighth they have scored since the middle of March.
Barring an implausible result on the final day against Newcastle United, they will finish the season with negative goal difference for the first time since 1994/95. They will certainly post their worst ever points tally in the Premier League era, having never previously failed to reach at least 50.
There will, of course, be no European football of any kind at Stamford Bridge next season whatever happens on the final day.
Premier League table ahead of 2022/23 final day
| Pos | Team | Points | Matches Played |
Goals Scored |
Goal Difference |
Next Match |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Man City | 89 | 37 | 94 | +62 | @ BRE, May 28 |
| 2. | Arsenal | 81 | 37 | 83 | +40 | vs. WOL, May 28 |
| 3. | Man United | 72 | 37 | 56 | +14 | vs. FUL, May 28 |
| 4. | Newcastle | 70 | 37 | 67 | +35 | @ CHE, May 28 |
| 5. | Liverpool | 66 | 37 | 71 | +28 | @ SOU, May 28 |
| 6. | Brighton | 62 | 37 | 71 | +20 | @ AVL, May 28 |
| 7. | Aston Villa | 58 | 37 | 49 | +4 | vs. BRI, May 28 |
| 8. | Tottenham | 57 | 37 | 66 | +4 | @ LEE, May 28 |
| 9. | Brentford | 56 | 37 | 57 | +11 | vs. MCI, May 28 |
| 10. | Fulham | 52 | 37 | 54 | +3 | @ MUN, May 28 |
| 11. | Crystal Palace | 44 | 37 | 39 | -9 | vs. NOT, May 28 |
| 12. | Chelsea | 43 | 37 | 37 | -9 | vs. NEW, May 28 |
| 13. | Wolves | 41 | 37 | 31 | -22 | @ ARS, May 28 |
| 14. | West Ham | 40 | 37 | 41 | -12 | @ LEI, May 28 |
| 15. | Bournemouth | 39 | 37 | 37 | -33 | @ EVE, May 28 |
| 16. | Nott'm Forest | 37 | 37 | 37 | -30 | @ CRY, May 28 |
| 17. | Everton | 33 | 37 | 33 | -24 | vs. BOU, May 28 |
| 18. | Leicester City | 31 | 37 | 49 | -18 | vs. WHU, May 28 |
| 19. | Leeds United | 31 | 37 | 47 | -27 | vs. TOT, May 28 |
| 20. | Southampton - R | 24 | 37 | 32 | -37 | vs. LIV, May 28 |
Their first season under the ownership of Todd Boehly's consortium has been wretched. Around $650m has been invested in the playing squad, with three different managers tasked with cobbling together that disparate group into some semblance of a football team.
Lampard, appointed as interim coach after Graham Potter was sacked in April, did not create the mess engulfing Stamford Bridge, but he's not exactly started the clean-up, either.
That task will befall the new permanent manager, which is expected to be Mauricio Pochettino. His record at constructing competitive teams at Espanyol, Southampton and Tottenham arguably make him well-suited to the role, although his inability to control the ego-driven PSG dressing room creates some doubts, too.
But what exactly will Pochettino be working with? Reports suggest Chelsea are pursuing even more signings regardless of outgoings, not including the impending arrival of Christopher Nkunku, who struck a deal to join months ago.
After nearly a year of the post-Roman Abramovich regime, there appears to be little to no joined-up thinking at the club; Pochettino, a stickler for control over transfer targets while at Spurs, seems to be having his signings decided for him before he's even arrived.
Little wonder that Lampard, Chelsea's all-time record goalscorer and immovable fan favourite, says this is a job many managers just don't think is worth the hassle.
"I think it's a fantastic job because it's the Chelsea job, and when I took it for the first time I came [in 2019], I probably got the job because a lot of top managers didn't want the job. I know that for a fact," he said on Thursday.
"But I enjoyed the process and I enjoyed coming in, and I wish the new manager well. It's his problem."
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Sunday will be Lampard's last match as caretaker boss, with high-flying Newcastle United visiting Stamford Bridge still in party mode after qualifying for the Champions League for the first time in two decades.
It will be Lampard's opportunity to bid farewell, again, to the place he's called home for most of his football career — not that he sees it as anything so final as that.
"I'm not trying to sound corny, but I don't feel like it's a goodbye," he said. "Normally, you don't have a big hurrah when you leave a club as manager — you're in one day and you're out the next, and that's fine.
"This is the corny part: I'll never feel like I'm saying goodbye to the fans. My career as a player, as a coach the first time around, and this period, it's there. I live close enough to the stadium and I'll be back at Chelsea many times.
"When you take on a managerial career, it doesn't mean that you're going to be at the club you had 13 years at as a player forever. I'm quite calm about that, I'm not too nostalgic about it, but I certainly do appreciate the fans' support and I will on Sunday.
"More than anything, I'd love to give them a performance to take away to the summer and feel a bit more positive about."
That performance will have to be produced without the injured Reece James and, most likely, Mason Mount. Lampard said it will be "really tight" for the midfielder to be ready to play just his second league game since February, with surgery on a pelvic problem having sidelined him for weeks.
The broader question for Mount is whether he plays in Chelsea colours at Stamford Bridge again. The England international has just a year left on his contract and, if he does not agree to a new deal, it is likely he will be sold in the next transfer window.
Liverpool and Arsenal are said to be interested, but, according to David Ornstein of The Athletic, Mount would favour a move to Man United if he decides to leave — and Erik ten Hag is a big fan.
Mount was a favourite of Lampard in his spell as full-time Chelsea boss from 2019 to 2021, having shone in his Derby County side on loan. His time back in the dugout this year may have gone better had the midfielder been available, but the harsh reality is that Mount may now think he needs to leave his boyhood club for the good of his career.
Convincing him otherwise is Pochettino's problem now.
