Opinion: It’s a different Chelsea but the same old Frank Lampard

It hasn’t taken long for Frank Lampard’s bubble to burst at Chelsea, the Blues leaving Molineux with their tails between their legs after a 1-0 defeat against Wolves.

A defeat that leaves Chelsea closer to bottom-of-the-table Southampton than it does to fourth placed Manchester United.

With the possible exceptions of Reece James and Kalidou Koulibaly, the away side didn’t offer an awful lot, and that has to be on the manager.

There’s often chatter about a supposed ‘new manager bounce’ where players who underperformed for their old manager are given another lease of life when a new man in charge comes in.

That was completely missing on Saturday as Matheus Nunes’ goal of the season contender saw Wolves take all three points.

Whilst it’s accepted that Lampard is effectively just the caretaker for now, this sort of result and performance right before a Champions League tie against Real Madrid is just about the worst possible scenario.

If Lampard himself had any aspirations of the top job under the new ownership, he hasn’t really done himself any favours.

Chelsea certainly have the players to really go places, but they’ve been a collection of individuals this season rather than a team.