I am pretty sure every football fan in England knows by now that Chelsea are playing 4-4-2 diamond formation under Carlo Ancelotti as the Italian believe it to be the perfect fit for Chelsea players at the moment. This has given the Italian an opportunity to partner Anelka and Drogba up front, but while everybody believed Ballack to be the natural fit for the tip of the diamond, Ancelotti opted for Frank Lampard. Diamonds are a girl’s best friends but I am not sure the same can be said for Lampard (not that I want to compare him to a girl).
Lampard has thus been given more freedom to roam forward and to help Anelka and Drogba in attack, but he would be doing this even from a deeper midfield role. He will not be able to provide those long passes from deep any more that often resulted in goals by his teammates in attack. This new role could see Lampard playing with his back to goal too often, which is definitely not a good thing for the England international, who is not the kind of player to take defenders on or hold up the ball while waiting for his teammates to join attack.
As the tip of the diamond, Lampard is now often welcomed by the opposing holding midfielder and does not have time or the space to feed the strikers with useful passes. He is easier to mark and we all know Chelsea are completely different team when Lampard is prevented from doing what he does best and that is organizing the play. Players like Essien and Malouda are now responsible for making the play and that is definitely not a good option when you have a Lampard in the team.
Great player that he is, Lampard will probably get used to the new role and will contribute a lot to the team’s cause in the future, just like he’s been doing all these years, but in my opinion, he would be of much bigger use at the right side of the diamond, leaving Ballack closer to the forwards.
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chelsea have the morale and go for the title. all the players are fit for the job. talk of drogba, lampard, terry, ballack, essien and the rest.