Keeping it real: Chelsea's season in review

Picture: Twitter/Chelsea FC

If you wanted an encapsulation of Chelsea’s season, rewatch last Wednesday’s 5-3 defeat at Anfield. Because there, in 90 blood pressure-baiting minutes, we saw the best of Frank Lampard’s side and easily its worst. Simply stated, this is a team blessed with attacking potential - and that will only get better with the incoming summer signings - but, to be fair, lacking some defensive integrity. The stats don't lie: Chelsea have ended the season in fourth place - it could have been third - but have conceded more goals than any other team in the top half of the Premier League.

One nagging concern about Lampard's tenure at Derby County last season was the defensive side of his and assistant head coach Jody Morris's game, and you could easily surmise that to be a blind spot that followed the duo "home" to Chelsea. The Liverpool game certainly placed it into sharp perspective, conceding five goals - some relatively cheaply - while scoring three through decent opportunities (and from those contracted to do so: Giroud, Abraham and Pulisic). From a neutral's point of view, a 5-3 encounter between the champions-elect and a top-four team, at the arse-end of this of all seasons, must have been fun to watch, especially with the irritating pyrotechnics erupting from addresses in the L4 postal area. But if Lampard was making mental notes, as he agitatedly prowled the technical area, he should have been only underlining pre-existing observations of issues with his side that have been patently clear all season long. Namely, the defence. Or, more fairly, 'defence', without the definite article.

Keita's stunning opener for Liverpool was the result of a wayward half-clearance by Willian inside his own half, in a position that should have been occupied by a midfielder or wingback, or N'Golo Kante, had he been fit. Avoidable, then. Liverpool's second came about after Mateo Kovicic was unfairly judged to have fouled Mane, allowing Alexander-Arnold to curl in one of his set piece specials from the free kick. Even before he'd taken his run up, Chelsea's Kepa Arrizabalaga was leaving oceans of space to his left on the goal line, so much space, the crew of the International Space Station could have looked out of a porthole and concluded: "He's going to pop that one in, top-right corner". Which he did. Avoidable. Five minutes later, another set-piece (an Alexander-Arnold corner), Chelsea fail to clear and Wijnaldum has the ball in the roof of the net from 12 yards. Avoidable.

None of this ignores the quality Liverpool displayed - and have displayed all season long - as they marched towards their first ever Premier League trophy (as opposed to the five for Chelsea...). Lampard, and his underlings and club hierarchy, would do well to look at how Jurgen Klopp's side have done it. If they have any hope of matching the Merseysiders next season, the prescription during what little close season exists before everything kicks off again on 12 September needs to be rich. Kepa Arrizabalaga, despite being the world's most expensive goalkeeper, has become increasingly unfit for purpose. His rooted-to-the-line stance and absence of stature invited Alexander-Arnold to give it a go last Wednesday night, and paid the price. But it would be wrong to pin the blame solely on the Spaniard with the job-descriptive first name. Chelsea need greater imperiousness at the back.

Various defensive combinations have been tried throughout the season but none have proven definitive. Antonio Rüdiger and Kurt Zouma may have played themselves into contention as the central defensive pairing, but neither have always given the confidence that they have anything like the symbiotic relationship once seen in blue with John Terry and Ricardo Carvalho, or even Terry and Gary Cahill. Captain César Azpilicueta is still a decent defender, and the fact he's been played out left as well as right shows just what is missing out left. Marcos Alonso is somewhat lacking in both pace or awareness in the wingback role, and Emerson Palmieri doesn't provide anywhere near the competition for that place he should do. Out right, Chelsea have options, including the promising Reece James, but even he's learning, and for all his genuine muscular ability, can sometimes have lapses of concentration. In front of the backline, Lampard has been forced to play Jorginho instead of the injured Kante in the closing stages of the season, but even the Brazilian-born Italian blows hot and cold as to his effectiveness.

Picture: Twitter/Chelsea FC

There’s no doubt that Lampard is building something at Chelsea. He is, after all, still only in his first season as head coach at the club and only in his second in management, altogether. He also came into the season with one of the club's hands tied behind its back, as the UEFA ban forced Lampard into fielding talented, home-grown youngsters. The loss of Eden Hazard didn't help, either. However, football is unforgiving, and Roman Abramovich even less so. The oligarch will, of course, be somewhat more sympathetic towards Lampard, not least of which because he saw the former Chelsea No.8 lift trophy after trophy during the better part of his 12 seasons as a player. There will, too, be some leniency over the fact that Lampard hasn’t, yet, been able to fully stamp his mark on the club. Expectation, then, will be high on how he integrates the inbound Hakim Ziyech and Timo Werner and, potentially, nabs Leverkusen’s Kai Havertz, who is apparently keen to move. Attacking creativity is already not in short supply - Christian Pulicic has given some glimpses of late as to what he can do, even with the heavy load of Hazard’s shadow hanging over him. Clearly, a refresh in the forward mix can only be a good thing, but realistically, that’s not where the money needs to be spent. It would be nice to think that Marina Granovskaia, keeper of the Roman chequebook, knows this too. If Havertz is the missing piece of the creative puzzle, wholesale changes at the back are needed.

I wouldn’t normally expound much time on anything Jamie Carragher has to say about Chelsea (let’s just say, there’s been form between us over the years), but his assessment after the Liverpool encounter was spot on: "Chelsea won’t go any further unless they change their goalkeeper,” he told Sky Sports, adding: “You see a lot of centre halves at Chelsea without seeing one really outstanding one, those are the areas that if they are going to challenge Liverpool and Man City they’ll have to rectify in the summer. They are the worst team in the league defending corners. This is a massive problem for Chelsea. Yes Werner is coming in and [Ziyech], there is talk of Havertz as well. It sounds great and it gets supporters excited but it means nothing if you don’t sort out that back three and certainly that goalkeeper."

No surprise, then, that Lampard resigned Arrizabalaga against Wolves in their Premier League season finale. Pundit and fan concerns about the keeper's justification have been compounded this season. Against Wolves, the dependable Willy Caballero did everything he was called upon to do, but at 38, the Argentine can't be considered the long-term solution for the goalkeeping position. Kepa's not a bad keeper, but his discipline and decision making let him down too often.

All that’s left of the season, then, is the FA Cup Final on Saturday against Arsenal - another storied fixture between the clubs, though neither are quite at the level of previous encounters between them. And then, there’s the somewhat weird notion of a Champions League Final 16 meeting on 8 August with the mighty Bayern Munich, something of a dead rubber, given that Chelsea head to Bavaria 3-0 down on aggregate. Chelsea have had plenty of these fixtures in recent years - famously winning the Champions League itself in 2012 at the Allianz Arena by beating the host home side. This time around, it’s a different encounter, especially given that this early in August would see both sides in the midst of pre-season friendlies. The first leg at Stamford Bridge, however, proved an education for Lampard, highlighting the gap between his side of mostly youngsters and a Munich consisting of players in their prime and at their prime. Chelsea could still pull off a shock, as they did in 2012, but overturning a 3-0 deficit against the Germans would be something of an unlikely outcome, even in this somewhat unlikely term.

In some ways, Lampard couldn’t have enjoyed an easier nursery slope on which to try out his management skills, an even more benevolent situation given how many of his predecessors have not been afforded such freedom. The 2020-21 season will be a whole different affair, and the likeable 42-year-old may face more challenging scrutiny. But, put into perspective, an FA Cup Final, a last-16 place in the Champions League, and fourth place in the Premier League is, by anyone’s standards, not bad. The thing is, Chelsea managers are rarely held up to “anyone’s standards”.