Chelsea should have given Frank Lampard more time

It can be difficult to criticise Roman Abramovich - he has made Chelsea a powerhouse after all - but I think the club have got it wrong in sacking Frank Lampard halfway into this season.

Maybe I was naive but I genuinely thought that Abramovich wanted to build a mid to long-term plan with Lampard. That's what I believe they wanted to do with Jose Mourinho second time around too - someone who had strong connections with the club and who could build a legacy at Stamford Bridge.

To do that you have to roll with the punches during the poor bits of form and it was only in December that Chelsea were top of the Premier League. Now they are struggling, but it's just a crazy season due to any number of mitigating circumstances.

How many times would Ole Gunnar Solskjaer have been sacked at Manchester United if Abramovich was in charge at Old Trafford? And I also disagreed with the club's statement which basically said Chelsea would not get any better under Lampard.

When you bring in the amount of players Chelsea did in the summer you need time to gel them together.

You also need a sustained period on the training ground, something no team has been able to get this season due to the impact of Covid on the fixture schedule. The other bits of reported discontent such as dressing-room unhappiness are overplayed - senior pros will always be miffed if they are out of the side no matter who the manager is.

Timo Werner won't always keep missing chances and Lampard was right to take Kai Havertz out of the firing line at times.

Mason Mount was cruelly labelled the teacher's pet and I get angry with some Chelsea fans who have a dig at arguably their biggest current academy star.

Mount delivers every week for Chelsea and is excellent on and off the ball which is why he was getting picked.

I have to be honest and say I wasn't totally convinced what I saw at Derby would be enough for Mount to make the Chelsea breakthrough immediately, although I know Frank's assistant from his two jobs, Jody Morris, absolutely raves about him.

Mount would have been one of the first names on my Chelsea teamsheet, although Thomas Tuchel sees it differently and brought Havertz straight in for the 0-0 draw with Wolves on Wednesday.

Havertz may well go on to become a top Premier League player, but there is no hiding the fact he has been a big disappointment and you can't just keep picking the same players because they cost the club a lot of money.

Sometimes it takes a season to come good and you have to be patient, but we know Chelsea don't do patience and the way they achieve success totally bucks the trend of nearly every other club.

It's difficult to build a philosophy when the manager keeps getting sacked and replacement Tuchel knows what he is getting himself in to.

He is a very good coach and I think what he did at Mainz was a clear sign of that. He then won a cup at Borussia Dortmund, collected the lot domestically in France and almost claimed the ultimate in club football before just falling short with Paris St-Germain in the Champions League final.

Tuchel clashed with his bosses at PSG because he did not get the players he wanted in the transfer market but it will be the same at Chelsea so it could be lively in the summer.

The fact he has been given only an 18-month contract speaks volumes.