Chelsea’s underperforming stars are equally to blame for club's recent slump

Frank Lampard has received a lot of flak amid Chelsea’s recent slump.

The Blues once again dropped points when they lost to Leicester City on Tuesday night. Goals from Wilfred Ndidi and James Maddison were enough to consign the London giants to yet another disappointing defeat – their fifth in eight Premier League games.

As expected, Lampard has been singled out for criticism, with the Chelsea manager currently on a short leash. The 42-year-old may be a club legend, but the Blues are known for sacking managers who fail to perform.

After a poor run of form which has seen Chelsea slip to eighth place in the Premier League, it is fair to say that Lampard has underperformed and now seriously risks losing his job.

FT. #LEICHE pic.twitter.com/sSttYoFKAb

— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) January 19, 2021

Chelsea players must equally share blame for the team's slump

While the criticisms directed at Lampard are justified, a majority of the Chelsea players cannot be excused. At the moment, very few seem to be fighting for the manager.

Aside from Thiago Silva, Reece James, Mason Mount and Mateo Kovacic, the rest seem to have already downed tools.

Against Leicester City, Chelsea showed very little desire and fight on the pitch. While the likes of James Justin, Wilfred Ndidi, James Maddison and Youri Tielemans were working their socks off, some of the Chelsea players couldn’t be bothered at all.

There’s been a lot of talk about the underperformance of Chelsea’s summer signings, but Lampard cannot be completely blamed for their failings.

Timo Werner, Kai Havertz and Hakim Ziyech have been given ample time to settle in, but they just can’t seem to find their form. Football is a result-oriented sport, and no manager in his right senses will continue to field players who are out of form.

Werner, in particular, has been very wasteful in the games that he has started, leading to his relegation to the bench. Havertz has been hot and cold, while Ziyech has lost his spark after a bright start to life at Stamford Bridge. The only arrivals who have been decent so far are Thiago Silva and Edouard Mendy.

5 - Chelsea have kept a clean sheet in just 17% of their away games in the Premier League under Frank Lampard (5/29); among those to have taken charge of 10+ away games in the competition, this is the lowest percentage of any Chelsea manager. Struggle. pic.twitter.com/px6jhXBWeO

— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) January 19, 2021

Chelsea players have let Frank Lampard down

The game against Leicester City exposed the weak mentality of this Chelsea team. They were completely passive and did not play like a team that wants to save its manager’s job.

Most of these players have been big disappointments and once again let Frank Lampard down at the King Power Stadium.

Lampard said after the defeat at Leicester (as quoted by Goal):

"Beaten by the better team. They were sharper than us, ran more than us and they looked in form - we looked out of form. Disappointing goal form a set piece and the second goal is just not good enough.

"There were quite a lot of moments where our sharpness wasn't there, those are moments you have to dig in and the basics are important like running and sprinting and we didn't do that.

The Englishman added:

"The most disappointing thing is to come here and lose the game but the basics off the ball are important."

The manager will always be criticised when things do not go well but the players must also take a proper look at themselves.

They have let Lampard down badly and cannot be exonerated from blame following Chelsea’s recent slump.