Under Frank Lampard, Chelsea has been characterized as a championship-caliber team and the Blues have been playing exemplary well. Still, winning against the Premier League giants - Manchester United, Liverpool, and Manchester City - seems a puzzle that Lampard is struggling to solve.
According to United hero Paul Scholes, it was clear that Lampard is missing something. Chelsea is among the top performers in the current season but the club seemed running out of steam when going against the big teams.
At the start of the competition, the Blues suffered a 4-0 loss playing against the Red Devils. Again, defeat came knocking when Chelsea faced Liverpool. Then when it looked like that a win against City would happen in the weekend, the final score read 2-1 in favor of the Pep Guardiola-led squad.
Scholes is wondering why it appeared that Chelsea can give any team a good fight and collapse anyway.
"They keep going to these big clubs, playing really well and not winning games. That will be frustrating for him I think, because he knows he's got quality in his team but he's missing something." Metro reported the English football legend as saying.
He added the problem lies in Chelsea's line of defense, specifically the club's center-backs.
The Chelsea head coach needs to reexamine the pair of defenders that are Fikayo Tomori and Kurt Zouma. The duo, according to Scholes, is the weakest link for Chelsea and chiefly the reason why the club succumbed to a loss after nearly two months of a defeat-free campaign.
"I'd be a little bit worried about his two center-halves ... They look a little bit nervous on the ball to me which can create nerves throughout the team," Scholes observed, per the related report from the Express.
The pundit made clear though that in most games played by Chelsea, the defensive duo showed they can deliver what is expected of them. It just might be that when playing the likes of United and Liverpool, the young players' nerves are getting the best of them.
"The way he wants to play, are they good enough on the ball? I think defensively they're okay," Scholes said.
He indicated too that what's happening might be a big frustration on the part of Lampard, who no doubt found success in putting together a competitive and young team that is Chelsea now. The team boss has to find the missing piece of the puzzle that is the key to winning big games.
"He's got to find that way of winning in big games, and that will frustrate him for now," Scholes said.
