Chelsea manager Frank Lampard came in for stinging criticism from a large number of the club’s fans over one particular aspect of his team selection.
Mason Mount started for the fourth Premier League game in a row but the midfielder endured a difficult afternoon at Stamford Bridge as the Blues fell to a 0-1 defeat at home to Bournemouth.
The 19-year-old, who was preferred to Mateo Kovacic in a central attacking midfield role, failed to make the most of a first half chance when his shot was repelled by Cherries goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale and that proved to be his only shot all afternoon.
Oliver Harbord of Football London gave Mount a lowly rating of three and said that he “couldn’t add anything in the final third of quality”, while Ben Pringle of the Daily Express felt that the teenager “was guilty of playing some poor passes”, although he did find a team-mate with 29 of his 34 passes on the day.
These Chelsea fans on Twitter fumed at Lampard for selecting Mount and persisting with him for the full game today, with Kovacic not appearing until the 64th minute:
https://twitter.com/EspoCarlito/status/1205877654915649536
Why mount played 90mins is till beyond me… Kovacic should have been subbed in for him
— Grandmaster (@azed10) December 14, 2019
Why would Lampard start Mason mount and have kovacic on the bench. Kovacic and jorginho partnership would have earned us a win today #CHEBOU
— uncle_dubem 🧢💙 (@kristien_iv) December 14, 2019
Kovacic is our best player so far, i wonder why he would put him on the bench for mount,
Is it a must we use mount?, i think lampard is loosing it and if care is not taken fans will soon loose their trust in him.#ChelseaUnderperformed. #lampard— Confirm Yoruba boy (@Abidoyeridwan) December 14, 2019
Same mistake made versus West Ham, Lampard never learned from it! Everton too same thing! Ah so he can't learn anaa?
Please somebody should tell Lampard not to rotate the midfield of kovacic, Jorginho and kante! Why can't he sacrifice Mount?
Smh#lampardout— AkwasiSergio (@SergioAkwasi) December 14, 2019
#Lampard should stop experimenting and decide on his fixed squad. Mount was very poor, for the past 5 games even, Kovacic has been excellent yet choosing him in front of Kovacic..this was poor performance..and subbing Pulisic and Willian and leaving Mount..really disappointed at
— Bromic Junior (@BromicJ) December 14, 2019
Do you think Lampard got it wrong by selecting Mount ahead of Kovacic today? Should the Chelsea youngster be dropped after this defeat? Join in the discussion by commenting below!
