‘Love-hate mentality’ led to Premier League manager changes, says Lampard

Frank Lampard believes a love-hate mentality, fuelled by social media and akin to politics, is behind the whirlwind nature of managerial changes in the Premier League and that the situation will calm down only if expectations of those in the dugout become more “reasonable”.

Twelve permanent managers in the top flight have been sacked this season, starting with Scott Parker by Bournemouth in August through to Graham Potter by Chelsea this month. On Monday came the dismissal of a caretaker manager when Cristian Stellini left Tottenham after only four games.

Lampard is on his second job in three months having returned to Stamford Bridge on an interim basis after his sacking in January by Everton. He is the fourth man to take charge of the team during this campaign and looks set to be replaced in the summer by Mauricio Pochettino, a former Spurs manager. All in all, it is a bewildering state of affairs.

“The landscape has changed,” said Lampard, who revealed Reece James and Mason Mount were likely to miss Chelsea’s final seven games because of injury. “We’ve maybe lost sight of alignment and expectations. Some of it has been fast-tracked by social media.

“It’s a bit like politics: you either hate something or you love it, you’re not allowed to be in between, and that feeds into football. You’re winning games and we love you, but [you lose games] and we hate you, and suddenly there’s pressure.

“It is what it is but it’s certainly at a point now where it’s more frequent and that’s down to that general desire and need for results. It’s a case of making sure we get the balance right of what is reasonable expectations [for managers] and what isn’t.”

There are no great expectations on Lampard after four successive defeats since he