Chelsea vs Derby: Victory tonight will mark another step forward in Frank Lampard's budding managerial career
At a recent Nordoff-Robbins charity dinner to celebrate Frank Lampard’s playing career, the polished new Derby County manager naturally spoke well, but most of all about his own former bosses.
Lampard was hugely gracious about so many Chelsea coaches to a degree that was striking.
There was of course the will of Jose Mourinho, the tactics of Claudio Ranieri and -
maybe most surprisingly - the man-management of Avram Grant. Lampard spoke so
appreciatively of how the Israeli looked after him following the life-changing
moment of his mother’s death, to the point the 40-year-old was moved to tears,
and a lot of people’s opinion of Grant might change.
While football is obviously trivial
against such real-life matters, all this does raise a tantalising question for
what has defined Lampard’s life and career.
Is it possible that Roman
Abramovich’s willingness to so readily discard managers might have helped
create a very well-rounded and fully formed manager, and one the club might
eventually turn to?
While it is obviously far too early
in Lampard’s career to talk so exaggeratedly about him or talk of Wednesday’s
return to Stamford Bridge in the League
Cup as a dress rehearsal for the job, the connections are there, as
is the obvious context.
Only feeding this is the fact that
the Derby boss beat one of his managerial mentors in Jose Mourinho to set up
this fourth-round tie, with his side having defeated Manchester United on
penalties at Old Trafford after a fine 2-2 draw.
Lampard has certainly played under
more defined manager types than the majority of other former players, and few
of the latter will have been disposed to take on so much. The former midfielder
was famously one of those individuals who really thought about his game to make
himself better - in this case, properly world-class - and that is usually at
least a common trait among those players who made themselves into successful
managers. It has been said of both Pep Guardiola and Mauricio Pochettino, so
Lampard does have that going for him too.
His career is not all there is to
say about Derby, nor is he the only Chelsea connection. It is possible that the
Championship side may have put in place a
highly promising managerial team. While Lampard seems to have the mindset and
will of a boss, his former Stamford Bridge teammate Jody Morris looks like he
has the tactical intelligence really required for assistants.
It was that which beat United, and
that has them four points off top in the Championship.
Their chances of beating Chelsea
meanwhile might be aided by Maurizio Sarri’s need to rotate his squad,
and some of those coming in may come up against players they know well from the
sides below the Stamford Bridge senior squad. Chelsea have approved the
appearance of loanees Mason Mount and Fikayo Tomori.
All of this might make tonight a
more even game than matches between sides from different divisions usually are,
and might yet allow Lampard another highly symbolic victory. It might well be
another step in a significant path, and not just to Wembley.
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