Wolves 1-0 Chelsea: Frank Lampard’s return in the Chelsea dugout ends in defeat
Carlo Ancelotti might raise a quizzical, arched eyebrow if you were to ask him how worried he was about facing Chelsea on Wednesday night. He would then give you a perfectly polite response about how much respect he has for the club and how many quality players they have.
After all, Frank Lampard and Ashley Cole, now on the Chelsea bench, were his lieutenants during his time at Stamford Bridge. And anyway, Carlo being Carlo, he is never likely to say: ‘Frankly, Real Valladolid would give us a tougher test.’
Yet there it is. Wolves were excellent here on Saturday and tactically Julen Lopetgui’s 4-4-2, for the most part, baffled Lampard’s players.
All of Chelsea’s starting front three – Kai Havertz, Raheem Sterling and Joao Felix were withdrawn before the 69th minute, which tells you something about the lightweight nature of their contribution. And not to diminish the outstanding efforts of Mario Lemina and Joao Gomes but if you can’t cope with the Wolves’ midfield, then good luck containing Toni Kroos, Luka Modric and Federico Valverde.
In summary, other than a lively spell after the half time team talk, Chelsea were as poor as they have ever been under Graham Potter. The bounce effect fell flat. There was zero emotional response from the players to a club legend.
