Carlo Ancelotti would raise a questioning, arched eyebrow if you asked him how worried he was about facing Chelsea on Wednesday night. He would then give you a perfectly polite answer about how much respect he has for the club and how many quality players they have.
After all, Frank Lampard and Ashley Cole, now on the Chelsea bench, were his lieutenants during his time at Stamford Bridge. And anyway, since Carlo is Carlo, he’s probably never going to say, ‘Frankly, Real Valladolid would give us a tougher test.’
Yet it is there. Wolves were excellent here on Saturday and tactically Julen Lopetgui’s 4-4-2 stunned Lampard’s players for the most part.
All three of Chelsea’s front three – Kai Havertz, Raheem Sterling and Joao Felix were withdrawn before the 69th minute, which tells you something about the lightweight nature of their contribution. And not to diminish the excellent efforts of Mario Lemina and Joao Gomes, but if you can’t handle the Wolves’ midfield, good luck with Toni Kroos, Luka Modric and Federico Valverde.
In summary, apart from a lively spell over the team after half time, Chelsea were as poor as ever under Graham Potter. The bounce effect fell flat. There was no emotional reaction from the players to a club legend.
Frank Lampard’s return fell short as Chelsea sank goallessly to a 1-0 defeat at Wolves following the sacking of Graham Potter last Sunday
Matheus Nunes’ stunning goal gave the hosts another lifeline and kept the Stamford Bridge club rooted in turmoil
Koulibaly tapped a ball to Nunes, so that the midfielder hit a beautiful oblique half-volley over Kepa Arrizabalaga.
There was no sign of joy at the return of a familiar coaching face. But how come only four of the starting eleven were here when Lampard left the club in January 2022? Under Potter, they created opportunities that they then missed. Here they didn’t get a chance to miss much because they hardly created anything.
Chelsea looks and plays like a bunch of strangers, superstar football players thrown together to shoot one of those overly dramatic advertisements for a soda company. Whatever the inverse of team, it’s them. They look lost, bewildered, a group of young men unsure of what is expected of them and not sure they can deliver even if they knew what it was.
Lampard correctly identified the fact that his players are not even competing enough at the moment and as such. their talent is a moot point. Asked if they should worry about what Real Madrid might do to them, he appealed to Chelsea’s old-time character, the type embodied by himself and Cole.
“If you’re worried, don’t come,” he insisted. The players shouldn’t be. It’s a carrot for them, and if they sign for Chelsea, all the players on that team, whether it’s Mateo Kovacic, who’s won Champions Leagues and played in World Cups, deserve to play; or if you just arrived and are Mudryk then you are here for a reason.
“But to expect everything to come together is not necessarily the case. I’m not saying this team doesn’t have aggression. It’s a matter of bringing it together. Lack of confidence can look like lack of aggression, but here we were up against a team that was very aggressive and maybe there were second balls and duels where we weren’t quite there. I don’t mind saying it. It must be said to deal with it.’
To be honest, when you face Marco van Basten, life isn’t easy. Matheus Nunes wore the shirt, but it was almost purely from Basten when the unique moment of excellent quality in this game came in the 32nd minute. (A critic might quibble that Nunes didn’t hit the ball purely on the volley, but let the ball bounce; or that Van Basten’s chance came from a closer angle. But still it made one think).
Diego Costa, still waiting for his first Wolves goal, was denied by Kepa soon after as the Blues didn’t show much struggle
Lampard called in Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang with 22 minutes remaining, but the striker made little difference in the Molineux
A well-known theme preceded it: Chelsea lost the ball in midfield and then failed to clear it. And while they couldn’t have quite expected what came next, it still seemed extraordinary that Nunes had so much time and space to judge his shot on the bounce of the Daniel Podence cross.
But what a strike it was. You won’t see a better connection to the ball or a more terrifying shot from the edge of the box. Kepa barely moved and the net didn’t even waver but almost burst under the force. It was a beautiful moment, all the more appreciated because the fare had been so mediocre until then. Yet Julen Lopetegui had no love for it. “It doesn’t matter if the goal is very nice or not,” he said. Three points were apparently more important than ethereal moments of exquisite beauty.
Set pieces and corner kicks dominated the first half, but not in a good way. There were 12 corners in the first half, eight of which went to Wolves, which gives you an idea of the balance of play, even though Chelsea had more possession. None of these corner kicks resulted in a significant chance.
Chelsea were better when they came out for the second half. Reece James and Sterling looked like they could hook up on the right. James came behind twice to make crosses, but Havertz was nowhere near. A known shortcoming of Lampard’s Chelsea while chasing a match was the space they left unprotected. And so it was here. Wolves should have made better use of it when Matheus Cunha broke through in the 57th minute and rolled the ball in for Nunes. But the pass was too slow, Nunes too indecisive and the opportunity passed, as Chelsea gathered ground to get on their man.
Lampard threw the sink at it; Christian Pulisic, Ben Chilwell, Mkhailo Mudryk and even Pierre Emerick Aubameyang came on in his first appearance since Spurs’ defeat in February. No one noticeably moved the dial, though Chilwell’s driven stoppage-time cross at the end just begged for a forward player to make it to the end of it. Next stop, the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium. You may want to raise your own questioning eyebrows at the prospect of that.
Lampard immediately recalled Conor Gallagher and Raheem Sterling, but the pair were unable to change Chelsea’s fortunes
Todd Boehly had expected a reaction, or at least to see Chelsea regroup, but he got another limp performance
Wolves should have made better use of it when Matheus Cunha broke through in the 57th minute and rolled the ball in for Nunes.
But the pass was too slow, Nunes too indecisive and the opportunity passed, as Chelsea gathered ground to get on their man.
Lampard threw the sink at it; Christian Pulisic, Ben Chilwell, Mkhailo Mudryk and even Pierre Emerick Aubameyang came on in his first appearance since Spurs’ defeat in February.
No one noticeably moved the dial, though Chilwell’s driven stoppage-time cross at the end just begged for a forward player to make it to the end of it. Next stop, the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium.