Gary Neville has defended Chelsea’s call to bring back Frank Lampard and not keep Bruno Saltor until the end of the season amid the issues for Tottenham Hotspur and Cristian Stellini.
Both Tottenham and Chelsea sacked their managers recently, but rather than bringing in a new face straightaway, the London duo decided to put temporary men in charge until the end of the season.
Cristian Stellini, who was part of Antonio Conte’s staff, was put in charge by Daniel Levy, whilst Frank Lampard was brought back, and Bruno Saltar – a member of Graham Potter’s coaching staff – left after filling in for one game.
Given that Lampard, who was sacked by relegation-threatened Everton this season, has lost all three games in charge so far, then perhaps some would argue, ‘why didn’t Chelsea just keep Bruno on board given that he knows this current crop of players better?’.
Well, given that Spurs have done just that with Stellini, but have fallen backwards, including losing to Bournemouth at the weekend, then Neville suggested that keeping the assistant in charge isn’t always the answer despite it already going ‘really badly’ for Lampard, as he told Sky Sports.
“I said that (Chelsea were better off keeping Bruno Saltor in charge), but I thought somebody told me that ‘Bruno didn’t want it’,” said Neville. “He was adamant that he didn’t want it until the end of the season. I thought Bruno is a really respected guy, he is someone who has been a good player, he knows the players and just leave it as it was.
“But somebody told me that he was adamant that he just wanted to the ‘one game’ and he was out, so I can see why (they brought in Lampard).
“I mean, look at Tottenham. They have just left Stellini in and that’s not working. We can’t say that it’s a negative for Spurs, but it would be a positive for Chelsea now that Frank has come in.
“Look, it’s going to be tough for Frank if it continues as it is. He has lost his first three games. It has gone really badly.”Photo By Oscar J. Barroso/Europa Press via Getty Images
WHO IS IN A BIGGER MESS?
Take your pick. It’s a horror show at both clubs and the issue is that it could still get worse.
Perhaps Chelsea are in the biggest mess because they are sitting 11th in the Premier League, heading towards a bottom-half finish, soon to be booted out of the Champions League and all after spending £600+ million.
But Tottenham, come the summer, might tell their neighbours ‘hold my beer’ because they could finish outside of Europe this term, lose Kane in the summer and then struggle to bring in the manager they want.
