Lampard tells Boehly to make Chelsea more like Liverpool and Man City

Frank Lampard says it is time for Todd Boehly to get it right for the long term when choosing a manager after Chelsea’s policy of chopping and changing cost him three titles, and says the Blues must be more thoughtful like Manchester City, Liverpool and Arsenal. As the club’s American owners close in as Mauricio Pochettino as the fifth manager of their 11 months in charge, the current interim head coach has called out for more stability in the hot seat.

In his playing days at the club, Lampard served under 12 different managerial reigns in his 13 years. Now as City players under Pep Guardiola close in on their fifth title in the Catalan’s seven years in charge, Lampard feels short-changed by Chelsea’s indecision in the past.

“I was always part of the Chelsea team that changed managers regularly,” Lampard said. “With casual hindsight it is easy to say I had great success – I won three titles…

“But I should have won five or six. That’s my feeling. Sometimes more consistency and being able to work in one direction might have won us more titles – and I feel like we should have done. I don’t think there is always an obvious method.

“But I do think that if you are trying to work for something, you look at the successful models at the top end of the league at the minute and you see managers that have been working there a long time. Recruitment needs to be aligned with the type of squad and identity they want to bring and it works in a direction.

“You see City, Liverpool and Arsenal. So clearly if you want to get there it’s something that hopefully aligns. At the moment for us, it hasn’t. In an ideal world the next manager would bring more stability, but it is a lot of hard work to get that right.”

Lampard’s Chelsea face Arsenal at the Emirates on Tuesday night with the Gunners notable for their faith in Mikel Arteta which is now paying dividends. While they look unlikely to win the league this term, they have made great strides under the Spaniard.

Arsenal can move back to the top of the table if they condemn Lampard’s Chelsea to a sixth straight defeat across all competitions. But reigning champions Manchester City, who would then be two points behind them, will once more have two games in hand.

Lampard is looking to lift Chelsea out of a run of form that Gunners legend Paul Merson, a self-confessed fan of the Blues, has dubbed the “worst in the history of football”. Chelsea have succumbed to five successive losses for the first time since 1993.