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Frank Lampard’s reported managerial return to the Premier League

Hridyam Arora
Hridyam Arora

The Top Flight

Frank Lampard, Manager of Chelsea (Photo by Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)

Frank Lampard really didn’t have the greatest of time at Chelsea. Well, he did have a great first season in London, finishing third in the Premier League and getting to the final of the FA Cup.

They did it all after they lost their talisman Eden Hazard, and weren’t really able to spend their money that they got, due to the transfer ban that was put on them.

Then, he made his purchases: Over 200 million euros worth of transfer signings. The season started off well but then slowly got worse, and reached a point where it was almost certain that Lampard would not be able to make the team touch their ceiling. His sacking was inevitable.

He had so much talent in the team but he just wasn’t able to fit them all into a set-up that benefits the whole team.

The new signings were struggling, the team was struggling, there was no tactical identity, and so he got sacked. Thomas Tuchel has done way better with the same players, and has turned the season around for Chelsea.

Lampard is being linked with a managerial job at Crystal Palace. Would it make sense?

After around four months of getting sacked, there have been reports about Frank Lampard being linked to Crystal Palace to replace Roy Hodgson. Well, he’s one of the candidates.

Roy Hodgson has done a decent job (well, at least much better than Frank de Boer) at Crystal Palace and has made them a somewhat competitive team, staying in the mid-table spots in his three seasons at the club.

He still hasn’t led them to a top-ten finish though, something which the club has been eyeing for a while now.

It’s unclear whether he will extend his contract with the club as he hasn’t really said anything about his future yet.

More from Crystal Palace

So, according to Telegraph, Crystal Palace have Frank Lampard on their shortlist for next season if Roy Hodgson doesn’t renew with the club.

It’s an interesting notion. We all know Lampard did a good job at Derby and had some sort of success there before moving to Chelsea, so there’s not really a problem of him not knowing how to work with players that aren’t superstars.

But, there is a problem that Lampard would have to deal with. There are 11 players whose contracts are set to expire at the end of this season, and that can change things at the club for the worse, even during times like this where they may or may not have proper funds for a rebuild.

But, one thing we saw at Chelsea was that Lampard had a great eye for academy products and was great at developing them and giving them chances to play with the first team.

If that’s how Lampard’s approach is with the team, it would be good to see how far this team goes.

Crystal Palace have some good players, and Lampard (basically any manager, to be honest) will be pleased to work with them, but there are a host of problems waiting for the next Crystal Palace manager if Roy Hodgson doesn’t continue at the club.

Hridyam Arora

Hridyam Arora

Hridyam is a site expert at Pain In The Arsenal, and sometimes writes for other websites in FanSided's soccer division. He is also a writer for Managing Madrid, and has been published on Football España, Gooner Fanzine, Derby County Women, etc. He has been writing about Real Madrid and football for the last five years, and has covered several games directly from the stadium. From an FA Cup quarter-final between Wolves and Coventry City to a UEFA Women's Champions League game between Real Madrid and Chelsea, he covers a whole spectrum of footballing action regularly. He also enjoys tennis, basketball, F1, cricket, and a bit of American football, because there is no such thing as too many sports.