Is Jose still worried?

Munich are a club in crisis. They're out of, they don't have a manager, they're fifth in the league. It'll be a doddle. No, you're right, it's a really tough draw.

No, I, I agree. If they, if they do do business in January ahead of this tie, I can't imagine that many bodies coming in and it. Look, it's a. It's a daunting prospect, this. I mean, you could be potentially facing a. A team that's even possibly coached by Mauricio Pochettino. Possibly. It's been mentioned, isn't it? So. But it, but it's. Let's look at it on the positive. It's a tantalizing tie to have on the horizon. There's. There's plenty of time to concentrate on the league between. Now the more inexperienced members of. Of Chelsea squad will have had a Premier League program over, over the festive period to, to get under their belts as well. So as Liam says, the scenario may have changed significantly by the time the ties actually happen. It's just. It's just a great prospect on. On the horizon for the. For these players to look forward to and one. For them to. Yeah, it'll be an appealing prospect as well because to play Bayern Munich away in the Champions League is a. Yeah, it's a great occasion. That is a fantastic tie.

Yeah, and I think, yeah, it is a success because I think expectations were pretty realistic at the start of this campaign. A lot of these guys were going into their Champions League campaigns. Some of their more experienced heads, like Antonio Rudiger, significantly, you know, weren't really involved until, until the last game. I think it's, it's pretty. Getting out of that group is, is the first achievement of the Lampard era. It's a little tick by his name. He's, he's, he has achieved something quite notable there. Look there. It threw up its own issues as well. Playing at home in the Champions League is difficult, especially when they're asked to break down good defensive teams and, and you know, when Ajax played against them at Stamford Bridge and hit them on the counter, they ripped them to shreds when they had a full complement as well. So they would have learned a lot from the, from the, the games, particularly against Valenciera and Ajax, and that will stand those players in good stead. But as, as Liam says, anything they achieve in the Champions League is a bonus this season because they are a learning team.

Really?

Ajax away was impressive. I mean that is a great win and that is the type of. That is what they have to aspire to if they can go to a place, you know, as you say Champions League semi finalists last year and nick a result the way they did, but perform capably as well. I mean it wasn't as if it was unmerited.

Yeah, absolutely. That's what we're seeing more of now. That is the problem because we actually are seeing a bit of naivety creep into their play. Lille, I mean they were appalling, absolutely appalling. And yet they still caused mild consternation for that last five minutes. And that will concern Frank Lampard.

Yeah, absolutely. And maybe what we didn't anticipate quite so much was that there'll be periods of going up, like the seven wins on the bounce and then periods of inconsistency where they're struggling. I mean, that's what we've been delivered. Maybe we thought there might be a couple of wins followed by a loss rather than these periods of prolonged form one way or the other and maybe we should have seen that coming. The issue here is that when stubborn teams have turned up at Stamford Bridge, they have struggled to break them down. Palace, they found a way of getting through, but that was another scenario where that could have happened. And then Sam obviously exploited it well. Now Bournemouth, I watched Bournemouth the other week and Bournemouth are a counterattacking team. They're not very good when the onus is on them to break teams down. So actually that scenario was ideal for them the weekend and, and they could hit Chelsea on the counter and they could prosper. And as the frustration mounted, you thought more and more, oh, this could go, this could go the wrong way here. The worry for, for me with Bournemouth was that Lampard had even spoken about in his pre match, you know, this has the potential of going like a West Ham. You know, if we don't start moving the ball the right way and yeah, fluid movement and causing them problems, we could struggle to get past them. And that's exactly how the game Played out, to be honest, it might work in his favour, because if the board were wavering about spending money in January, this little run of form against teams that you have to break down actually plays into Lampard's hand, that he's all he's saying about creativity, about attacking flair, about a center forward who can get you 10 goals, that's exactly what Chelsea need now, just to supplement the ranks and give them other options. So actually, he can now go to Marina Granovskaia and say, I need spending in January.

But this is exactly what happened to Antonio Conte in that second season. He spent the summer warning how Chelsea's squad wasn't big enough to cope with Champions League football and maintaining a challenge in the Premier League simultaneously, just because of the sheer number of fixtures that would come their way. And. And exactly the same thing has happened, that they don't have the depth. He has, as you say, trusted a select core group of players, and the others he sort of drifted in and out. And the reality is, you know, once one or two of them lose form and confidence, he's still relying on them and they can't summon those performances. It's all about fizz. You're absolutely right with they look jaded, they look mentally jaded as well as physically jaded. And that, that is troubling. But, you know, thank thank the Lord they've actually able to go into the market in January because otherwise you'd, you'd be looking at it now and thinking, whoa, where does this season go?

He's a player that needs service. He's not going to do it on his own. He needs wingers putting the ball in along the ground into the six yard box. And that's where he'll, he'll, you know, as he did at Ajax, he will, he will take the chances eventually that come his way. But he's not somebody that can, he can just fling on and think he's going to produce a bit of magic because he needs the service to do that.

I think supporters probably need it more. As a supporter, you want to see a manager sort of partaking in the game and being part of the action.

Yeah. And I don't think it has a major effect on players out on the pitch, if I'm honest. He can't suddenly change character now that he's Chelsea's head coach. He can't suddenly become something that he isn't. The interesting thing on the crossfield boards, I was talking to Liam about this before we went on air, is what Simon Johnson wrote week about the sort of Slight wariness that he appears to have with Antonio Rudiger. I wonder whether that's now being demonstrated. I mean there is a player that is experienced. He's the most experienced defender bar asp on the books. Most experienced center half. He probably expects a lot more from Rudiger. I know he's coming back from injury, I know he's hardly played at all for him yet and it'll take him a while to get back into rhythm. But I got the impression post match with the comments he made to the media that it was almost as if he was slightly disappointed with what Rudiger's offered him so far. And that would come play with what Simon wrote the previous week about a certain wariness within the hierarchy with Rudiger. Rudiger is a player that has to make an impact now. He has to show Chelsea that they don't need to go out and buy a centre half in January. He's got an opportunity to do that and to date he hasn't really shown it.

Absolutely right. And there's a vulnerability to Tottenham still that's been masked by the fact they're funny. They're now scoring goals again. They are defensively frail. If you look at the results that Mourinho's had, they're not very Mourinho type results, are they? Let's be honest, a flurry of three twos at the beginning, it's uncharacteristic. So Chelsea will look at it and think we we can wound them. However, Tottenham's attacking armory will really test Chelsea and the aforementioned Rudiger will have to be top metal to, to actually prevail here and, and to. And to make a mark because they're going to have to find a way of being watertight going, going to the, the Totten Stadium. Everything about it is intriguing. I think it's a fascinating game. I think the dynamics and the touchline in particular are going to be incredible given the relationship between the two head coaches and the momentum swings. Yeah, but I wouldn't rule Chelsea out on this. I really wouldn't. I think they're a team that will summon surprising results out and I know we've talked a lot about how they've struggled against the fellow members of the elite, but that duck will get broken at some point and you know spurs away will motivate them.

That would be my instinct. I think as Liam said earlier, Jones was a miss against Bournemouth. I think they'll need his energy and his delivery. And look, I'd be surprised if Azpilicueta his most one of the experienced older heads he didn't feature and left back. Is the obvious that the spurs will target that as an area to attack if Azpilicueta's not there. Look, it's. Yeah, they will rely upon the older heads. They have to, they have to because this is a properly daunting fixture. I've just got this feeling about it and, and you're right, there is a motivation there for those guys because actually you could argue at the moment if Chelsea are going one way with four defeats in five and are sinking back towards the pack, there will be some doubt there. You know, maybe Mourinho was right. Maybe this is going to be a season where Chelsea finish Mid table despite that wonderful run. Well now these guys have got an opportunity to actually emphatically say no. Hold on a second. We are a top four club. Mason Mount. I'm an England international. Tony Abraham. I'm an England international. I'm going to show that I can, I can belong in this Premier League and I can hurt another good team, another elite side. I just got this funny feeling about it. I think it will bring the best out of them.

I've always got the impression that he's a bit of a sponge in as much as he'll soak up the information and the strategies and approaches of the people he works with. And he has had the privilege of working with some pretty good Chelsea managers over the years. I was racking my brains and build up to this overriding memories of him as a. As a coach or a member of the backroom staff. And the only thing I could come up with was standing in the mix zone at the Bayern arena Post final in 2012. And I can't remember whether he had part of the trophy or he had some kind of memorabilia with him as he walked through. Let's bear in mind this is about two in the morning and we'd all be sort of standing around for ages getting rebuffed by Ashley Cole and the usual stuff that happens in mix zones. And he just walked through. He didn't want to stop and talk, but he just sort of. He walked past us and said it's a bit of a doddle, this management thing, isn't it? And he's spot on at that point. He'd Come from nowhere. And it was suddenly walking off with the Champions League and for him to be trusted by Di Matteo. He'd worked with the MK dons, I think as well. Yeah, he obviously offered quite a lot. And then to take on the. The loan role at Chelsea, which is a pretty big role when you think about how many players they have out. And he's communicating with these guys in the pre WhatsApp days as well. So he's having to probably ring them up and stuff like that. Old school, I think. Yeah. Vastly underrated and it's nice to see him being rewarded with a significant role within Lampard's setup. Now he is a Chelsea stalwart. We forget how much he played for the club and the role that he played in the pre Abramovic era. And he now feels almost like part of the furniture.

I'm going to get involved in the pre Jose Mourinho features. I'm sure there's a long list that Liam is constructing as we speak and I'm definitely getting involved in a bit of that.

Here.