Tony Cascarino has criticised the Director in the wake of a Destructive Champions League defeat at the hands of Bayern Munich.
Chelsea head coach Frank Lampard is”spinning plates around his group”, according to Tony Cascarino, who believes a club legend was given the benefit of the doubt at Stamford Bridge due to having no”buying power” last summer.
The Blues suffered a 3-0 home defeat against Bayern Munich at the first leg of the last-16 Champions League tie on Tuesday night, which leaves them on the edge of elimination.
The Bundesliga winners dominated proceedings and carved out quite a few clear chances before finally taking the lead when Serge Gnabry turned Robert Lewandowski’s low cross to the net six minutes into the second half.
Gnabry added a second minutes later, playing a fantastic one-two with Lewandowski before shooting an superb left-footed shot beyond Willy Caballero.
Lewandowski got his name on the scoresheet in the 76th minute, tapping home after a scintillating run from Alphonso Davies down the left hand side.
Unless Chelsea can conjure up a miraculous turnaround at Allianz Arena on March 18, they will just have the FA Cup plus a top-four Premier League finish left to play heading into the business end of the campaign, with stress now starting to build on Lampard.
Cascarino is”not convinced” that the 41-year-old is the ideal person to take the club forward, as he informed TalkSPORT whilst opening up on a”spiky’ telephone call he had with the Blues boss earlier this year.
“It is an awkward one with Frank, because we’ve had words ” that the ex-Chelsea striker said. “Not bad, but I had a telephone call and things were mentioned.
“If I am being brutally honest, I have always found Frank to be slightly spiky with a few of the things you say, and it is possible to be free but Frank takes it slightly the wrong way.
“I am not convinced by his direction at times this season, because I really do think it is a simple excuse merely to go youngster, child — he has changed that staff a hell of a lot”
Cascarino also weighed on Lampard’s decision to drop #72 million ($93m) goalkeeper Kepa in favour of Caballero, insisting the Spaniard has not been shown sufficient”loyalty”.
“I really don’t like the Kepa issue. He deserved to get lost, but keeping him from the team — I am not so sure that is a great decision,” Cascarino stated.
“You have to demonstrate loyalty to players occasionally, even after a bad game.
“But it is happening all over the pitch, everywhere has been changed, everybody was changed around. It’s really tough to guess Chelsea’s XI and that tells you in some way that Frank is turning plates around his group.”
Chelsea were not able to sign any new players due to a transfer ban, which was lifted in time for the opening of the winter window, but no new players arrived at the Bridge in January.
Cascarino went on to express his view that the Blues will need to spend so as to begin improving again, adding:”We are giving him the benefit of the doubt because he is new to this function of a Premier League manager and Chelsea have been in a really tough situation where there has been a whole lot of change and no purchasing power.
“However, what I see, just look at the games they have lost, the quantity of games they have lost and the goals against column — which tells you a big story, they can not defend very well.
“I can not see [how that can enhance ] unless you purchase new players, but you have also got to look over your system.”
