Frank Lampard’s Chelsea record compared to Graham Potter and Thomas Tuchel

With Frank Lampard back in the hot seat at Chelsea until the end of the season, there is a huge amount of intrigue as to what he can get out of the talent-laden squad that Thomas Tuchel and Graham Potter could not.

Potter lost his job after a defeat against Aston Villa in the Premier League which further showcased why the Blues will not be suddenly forcing their way into the Champions League places this season.

Tuchel was sacked after a slow start to the season. It was a decision that seemed premature and still looks that way with the gift of hindsight. Given he is now the Bayern Munich coach and Chelsea are languishing in mid-table, the German may feel he has come off fairly well from the situation.

With the club in a constant state of disarray, let’s see how Lampard’s first spell as Chelsea coach compared to his successor Tuchel and the recently departed Potter.

Lampard took charge at Stamford Bridge ahead of the 2019/20 season and was in the job until 18 league games into the 2020/21 season. In the first campaign, Chelsea were dogged by inconsistency but reached the FA Cup quarter-finals and secured a top-four finish.

The following season had the same inconsistency of results but with more of a downward trajectory and before the former midfielder was shown the door with the Blues sitting tenth in the Premier League.

Lampard had 84 games in charge of Chelsea and managed 44 wins, 15 draws and 25 losses. They scored 171 goals and conceded 116 in that time, meaning the goal difference was 55 and his points per game record was 1.75.

Tuchel took over at Chelsea immediately after Lampard was shown the door and his reign started quite remarkably. In the first 14 games across all competitions, Chelsea did not lose. That run included four draws which came against Wolves, Southampton, Manchester United and Leeds.

They only lost five games in the remainder of the 2020/21 season, with one being a second leg Champions League defeat to Porto which still saw the team progress. Thanks to the form in the Premier League, Tuchel achieved the objective of getting Chelsea into fourth place. He then went above and beyond as he even won the Champions League, something that seemed unimaginable earlier in the season.

The next season saw some slight progress in the Premier League as Chelsea managed to finish third after two consecutive fourth-placed finishes. They won the UEFA Super Cup and the FIFA Club World Cup but were beaten in the finals of both the FA Cup and Carabao Cup finals. They also went out in the quarter-finals of the Champions League.

The 2022/23 campaign did not start very well for Tuchel but the sacking was still a surprise, even for Chelsea. The Premier League campaign began with three wins, two defeats and a draw, but the final game for Tuchel was a Champions League group stage opener away at Dinamo Zagreb which ended with a surprise 1-0 defeat.

It was tough start to the new campaign, but with Todd Boehly now the owner, it seemed that the margin for error at Chelsea was even smaller than it historically has been.

Tuchel ended his time at Chelsea having reached 99 games. Chelsea won 62 of them, drew 19 and lost 18. They scored 195 times and conceded 105, meaning the goal difference was 90. The points per game record was 2.07, better than Lampard’s record.

Potter is the coach who has the least data to look at from his time at the club. He took over soon after Tuchel’s dismissal and enjoyed a strong beginning to life at Chelsea. A 1-1 home draw against RB Salzburg was followed by wins over Crystal Palace, AC Milan, Wolves, Milan again and then Aston Villa.

A first defeat did not come until ten games into his Chelsea reign but it was an emphatic 4-1 loss away at Brighton, the team he left to take the Chelsea job. They then beat Dinamo Zagreb at home, but things started to unravel with defeats to Man City in the league and FA Cup and another loss against rivals Fulham.

A run of one win in 11 games across all competitions ultimately did for Potter. Champions League progression against Borussia Dortmund and league wins against Leeds and Leicester were soon undone by a draw with Everton and a 2-0 home loss against Aston Villa. Things clearly weren’t getting better and Boehly pulled the trigger again.

Across Potter’s 31 games in charge, he won 12, drew eight and lost 11. The goal difference was poor at just +2 after scoring 33 and conceding 31. The points per game record was a measly 1.42.

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On this edition of Son of Chelsea, part of the 90min podcast network, Daniel Childs reacts to the fallout after Chelsea sacked Graham Potter and weighs up who is going to replace him as a shortlist including Julian Nagelsmann, Mauricio Pochettino and Luis Enrique is drawn up.

If you can’t see this embed, click here to listen to the podcast!