Chelsea have just drawn with Aston Villa at home, and many fans were unhappy with one of Frank Lampard’s late decisions.
The Chelsea boss took off Olivier Giroud late on to introduce Timo Werner.
That was called “ridiculous” by one observer, and plenty more agreed.
There seemed to be logic to taking off the target man and bringing on a fast channel runner, only to continue putting balls into the box from wide.
On the other hand, it was definitely time to give Werner a go, and maybe the manager didn’t want to disrupt the formation he already had on the pitch.
It’s never easy, and had Ben Chilwell’s volley gone in, none of us would be talking about this particular sub anyway. It’s just a pity we couldn’t get the job done in those critical final stages.
You can see some of the reaction in the Tweets embedded here:
Frank brought on werner for giroud only to send crosses for him aswell 😪
— ℗ (@Pulisicko10) December 28, 2020
Lampard messes this game up by removing giroud . Playing Werner against a team that is prepared to sit back is just messed up .#CHEAVL
— Ebuka (@iamruchees1) December 28, 2020
Taking Giroud off when we didn't look like creating anything from centre and our only hope was headed goal from a cross.
Oh Lamp. Villa were never going to allow Werner run behind them. Killed the game then and there.
— नीले योद्धा(Warriors in blue) (@SirStaphAureus) December 28, 2020
As a Villa fan, i'd like to thank Lampard for taking Giroud off for Werner.
— Strepitous (@socraleese) December 28, 2020
https://twitter.com/Alarafa_unusual/status/1343641288437067780
Kovacic doesn’t really offer anything more attacking than mount, agree with abraham or just keep giroud on when the style of play doesn’t change for Werner
— CamCook00 (@haiqjws) December 28, 2020
#CHEAVL horror substitutions. Again no plan B from Lampard he could have kept Giroud on, played 442,both werner and havertz were playing so deep! Can't see Chelsea becoming top club with this attitude.
— Explorer (@dream2betrue) December 28, 2020
Lampard is not good enough for Chelsea.
Why on earth did he remove Giroud?
No tactical plan.
Just vibes and Inshallah.#lampardout
— CIPHER-FOXY DEV🛡️ (@DevCipher_RECOV) December 28, 2020
https://twitter.com/DubeyWill/status/1343641146376019973
Hopefully the City game gets postponed. A break from, and for, Chelsea would be good. Tonight's match ended with that ridiculous Werner for Giroud change.
— Grant de Smidt (@grantdesmidt) December 28, 2020
FT Thoughts:
– F**k off Stuart Attwell
– F**k off Jack Grealish
– F**k off VAR
– Chelsea deserved a win and atrocious officiating prevented that from happening
– CHO and Pulisic were fantastic
– Werner was a complete non-factor after coming onWhat're your thoughts?#CHEAVL
— The Pride of London (@PrideOLondon) December 28, 2020
If the Atwell could do his job, that's 3 points. But Lampard got it 100% wrong with the Giroud sub for Timo. We lost any foothold in the game with it. Might have a week-three weeks off now and some players really need to look themselves in the mirror #CFC #CHEAVL
— Travis (@Travtical) December 28, 2020
