Ajax 0-1 Chelsea: Frank Lampard hails ‘huge’ result as Blues put on a show of unity

Zero to hero | Michy Batshuayi scores Chelsea’s winner after a glaring miss earlier in the game
AP
James Olley24 October 2019

Frank Lampard was certain to have a galvanising effect on Chelsea fans when returning to the club but there was no guarantee he could replicate that in the dressing room.

The 41-year-old’s iconic status after 13 years as a player was no assurance of how well he would do as a manager in the Champions League, where mistakes in planning and execution are often punished in ruthless fashion.

It must, therefore, give him immense pride that the finest result of his tenure so far has come against Ajax, in Amsterdam, with a show of collective unity and spirit which sets the mind wandering about just how far his side could go this season.

The picture at the final whistle said it all. Michy Batshuayi had struck the winning goal a few minutes earlier — banishing an earlier shocking miss to a mere footnote in the process — when he suddenly saw one man sprinting in his direction to begin the celebrations. It was Tammy Abraham, who has done more to reduce the Belgian’s game-time this season than anyone else. Their embrace exemplified how these players are casting aside personal gain for the greater good.

Chelsea have now won six games in a row and it is easier to forge this team mentality when each outing ends in a positive result but it felt significant that Batshuayi and Christian Pulisic combined to give Lampard his best victory so far.

In Pictures | Ajax vs Chelsea | 23/10/2019

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Abraham, Mason Mount and Fikayo Tomori have attracted much of the focus this season and all three were influential here, particularly Tomori who overcame a nervous start to ­provide the foundation for this success alongside the equally excellent Kurt Zouma.

A consequence of that trio’s emergence is the marginalisation of established players or, in Pulisic’s case, one that arrived with heightened ­expectations due to a £58million price tag.

Lampard has made a point in recent weeks of singling out Batshuayi, sometimes unprompted, by publicly praising his diligence in training but it was still a surprise that he turned to the Belgian ahead of Olivier Giroud when replacing Abraham with 19 minutes left.

Pulisic had entered the fray five minutes earlier in another show of faith, following on from Saturday’s lively cameo against Newcastle and several impassioned press conference defences of the American’s limited impact since arriving from Borussia Dortmund.

Managers protecting players in this way is nothing new but there is a fine line between promoting youth and alienating fringe players, especially those in the latter stages of their career.

Some Chelsea fans want captain Cesar Azpilicueta out of the side but he was solid here, as was Marcus Alonso, who was clearly second choice prior to Emerson Palmieri’s thigh injury. Emerson was fit again but Lampard persisted with Alonso, underlining the clear message that form rather than reputation will get you in the team.

“Sometimes the toughest part of management is leaving out players who really want to play week in and week out, then you are relying on them being positive and coming on and making an impact,” said Lampard.

“They [Batshuayi and Pulisic] both did. I am delighted for them both. Delighted for the whole squad because it is great for squad spirit when subs come on and make differences like that, it is great for everyone.”

Lampard was forced to reject the suggestion he was “scared” of Ajax before the game, an adjective he ironically used when assessing where this result ranked in his post-playing experiences.

“It feels huge, which always scares me because there is a lot to do,” he said. “It is six points halfway through a group now and we play Burnley [in the Premier League] on Saturday. We are entitled to be happy with the way we played. It is a bit of a blueprint for us in terms of the way we played.”

Chelsea were indebted to one or those irritatingly ­marginal VAR offside calls which ruled out Quincy Promes’s 35th-minute strike but their composure in defence and attacking endeavour, reignited through Lampard’s ­substitutions, made it a deserved win.

Matching this ­standard on a ­consistent basis is the challenge now. And Lampard’s ­juggling act will get tougher considering N’Golo Kante and Ross Barkley were missing in midfield, while Antonio Rudiger, Andreas Christensen and Ruben Loftus-Cheek are all due back in the weeks ahead.

But these are welcome problems for a manager to have - and not the ones some feared when Lampard took charge.

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