Chelsea manager Frank Lampard has expressed his desire to finish the season with the FA Cup title, ahead of their final against Arsenal at the Wembley on Saturday.
After finishing fourt in the English Premier League, the FA Cup remains the only chance for a silverware this season. To move further in the UEFA Champions League 2019-20, Chelsea will have to overcome a three-goal deficit against a superior Bayern Munich team.
The FA Cup glory will be a statement for Lampard as it will throw weight in his two-year-old managerial career and in his first season as an English top-flight coach.
Also, it will be a greater achievement in the sense that the 42-year-old led a young an inexperienced team which defeated the likes of Manchester City and Manchester United on their way to the final.
In his first season as a Premier League manager, Lampard seems to have done exceptionally well. After their best player, Eden Hazard, left, and Chelsea was hit with a transfer ban for the entire season, Lampard was left with no option but to get a chunk of academy players to do the job.
“There were a lot of unknowns when I came in, could we move forward without Eden Hazard? We knew we had lost a massive player,” Lampard said as quoted by AFP (accessed via PTI).
However, he turned out to be a quite potent tactician as he successfully embroided the young academy graduates with a string of senior players. Despite one of the worst defending performances in Chelsea’s Premier League history, The Blues managed to overcome all the odds and have achieved more than anyone had predicted.
Lampard’s debut season as a Premier League manager will also be remembered for the number of young academy graduates who grabbed the headlines under him. The likes of Mason Mount, Reece James, Tammy Abraham Fikayo Tomoro and Billy Gilmour have been instrumental Lampard’s style of action.
“We’ve a real spirit within the group now and it’s a real team effort now,” Lampard said.
“What we’ve done this season is take the opportunity to bring in the younger players and improve the existing players.
“The challenge now is to see what more we can do next season,” the former Chelsea midfielder added.