Real Madrid can rub their hands for Tuesday in the Champions League with the visit of a depressed, aimless and soulless Chelsea. Not even Frank Lampard's debut on the blue bench, 804 days after being fired, served Londoners to raise their heads. In the redebut of the English coach, the blue team, 11th in the Premier League, fell on their visit to Wolverhampton (1-0) and is further and further away from the Champions League places (already 17 points away).
With Lampard taking over from Graham Potter -preferred by the American ownership of the club upon the arrival of Luis Enrique-, Chelsea continues to be a band, understood as a sum of individualities without the slightest collective sense, without a pattern of play, or order , no leadership. In 97 minutes of the game, a single shot between the three sticks, by Joao Félix.
Chelsea appeared at the Molineuux Stadium in Wolverhampton with a revamped team, returning to the line of four players in defense (with Cucurella again on the left side), but also with a host of stars in the eleven.
The quality of their players, with Enzo Fernández in the lead, and an offensive trio with Sterling, Havertz and Joao Félix, led the Blues to impose their dominance, their offensive game, without speculating, in the first minutes.
However, that solidity gradually faded, and Lopetegui's Wolves began to shake off their London dominance. In a speedy arrival from the left, with a cross from Podence, Matheus Nunes scored what will be one of the goals of the day with a brutal volley that made it 1-0 (m.32). A ball came bouncing, sweet, after a bad clearance by Koulibaly, and the Portuguese spliced it into the squad, violently, unstoppable. A goal.
At 1-0, Chelsea was left groggy, at the mercy of a Wolverhampton that grew and could have scored the second through Diego Costa (m. 36), but Kepa Arrizabalaga was spectacular stopping the shot.
Going through the changing rooms did not serve to revive the spirit of a Chelsea that was reminiscent of the old blue team without a soul, without an identity, without a collective sense.
He didn't like what Lampard was seeing and shook up the bench, switching his entire offensive line in one fell swoop. A touch to the stars: he removed Havertz (disappeared), Joao Félix, Sterling and Cucurella (he had a yellow card) from the field, for Pulisic, Aubameyang, Mudryk and Chilwell. But the reaction was nil.
Chelsea continued to be a powerless team, unstructured and without order or concert, incapable of disturbing a modest Wolverhampton who had enough to position themselves well behind.
Lampard's Chelsea will have to change a lot between now and Tuesday if they want to leave the Bernabéu alive.
