Chelsea news: The problems Frank Lampard must address at Stamford Bridge

Stamford Bridge is sympathetic to Frank Lampard. Not only is the 41-year-old a Chelsea hero but the fans recognise that he has a huge job ahead of him. There will be more afternoons like the 2-2 draw with Sheffield United. There will be worse days. Quite a few of them.

Saturday was bad enough. Chelsea were two goals up at half-time and should have been cruising but they conceded goals in the first and last minutes of the second period. In between Chris Wilder’s team had the better of the game.

Lampard is a substantial presence at the Bridge but his team is lightweight. The club’s transfer ban has left the squad short of the gravitas needed to compete at the top of the Premier League. They lack physicality and it showed against United.

Initially, it did not appear that power and maturity would be needed to beat the newly-promoted side. A pair of dreadful errors gave Chelsea a cushion. Tammy Abraham was the recipient of these mistakes and the 21-year-old is beginning to show hints that he is good enough to lead the line at this level. He was a handful for the United defence from the start, bustling across the back line, producing dancing if fruitless stepovers and shooting whenever there was a sniff of a chance. His goals were gifts, though. For the first he headed a Cesar Azpilicueta cross rather tamely goalwards but Dean Henderson failed to gather the ball under pressure from Christian Pulisic. Abraham fired the rebound into the net.

The second was even more of a farce from the visiting side’s point of view. John Egan and Jack O’Connell got tangled up trying to deal with a routine lob forward. The ball ran to Abraham who doubled the lead from just inside the box.

In truth, Chelsea had not been convincing. Pulisic has not been able to replicate the threat and creativity lost when Eden Hazard moved to Real Madrid. Mason Mount, highly regarded during his spell under Lampard at Derby County, struggled to get onto the ball and into the game. Both need time to grow into top-flight players but neither looks ready to impose themselves on matches like this.

The midfield was equally insubstantial. Jorginho was deeply unconvincing – as he has been throughout his career in SW6 – and Ross Barkley and Mateo Kovacic were largely peripheral. The central areas will be better when N’Golo Kante recovers from injury but the Frenchman is not the panacea for Chelsea’s problems.

Wilder had some hard words for his team at the interval but even before that, around the half-hour mark, there was a palpable moment when the United players seemed to exchange glances that said, ‘hang on, these aren’t great.’ While the visiting team’s belief grew, Chelsea’s ebbed.

Enda Stevens was emboldened enough to dribble down the left wing and pull back a cross to Callum Robinson. The forward had missed a headed chance just before Chelsea’s second goal but he made no mistake now, opening his body and directing the ball into the net.

Robinson was a constant threat, dragging Kurt Zouma across the area and tormenting the centre half at the near post. Zouma gave everything but appeared short of confidence. When he turned in Robinson’s cross for the equaliser in the dying minutes it was no surprise. He was often a crucial millisecond late to the flight of the ball.

Given the youthfulness of the squad – it was Chelsea’s youngest starting XI in the Premier League era – there was always a danger that inexperience could be a factor in the team’s lack of game management. Lampard shot that idea down. “It is not just the young players,” he said. “It is up to all of us to resolve the issue.”

The manager is right. Once in front, Chelsea were unable to impose any level of authority on the match. Lampard’s substitutions were questionable. Billy Gilmour might have a great future in front of him but sending on the 18-year-old to bolster the midfield with six minutes left looked perverse, as did removing Abraham. Yes, the team needed energy but control was more important.

United were open and adventurous. Against a better side their approach might have been considered naive. The teams Lampard played in would have picked off Wilder’s men with ease. On Saturday, the Blades were rarely in trouble in the second half and after this experience will go into the international break with renewed faith that they can make a good impression in the division.

Lampard has talent at his disposal but it is callow and unfocused. The team will suffer plenty of growing pains. Stamford Bridge will need to be patient in the coming months. The manager has to ensure that belief in the squad is as strong as in the stands.