This is Frank Lampard’s Chelsea now – Edouard Mendy was the missing piece

Around a month ago Frank Lampard had a problem. His team couldn’t stop the ball from going into the net.

Unsurprisingly Lampard drew a raft of criticism from fans and the media. This led to us seeing the spiky Lampard that comes out in press conferences when he’s really irritated.

“In terms of the goals conceded, I am aware of the stats,” Lampard said after a 3-3 draw with Southampton in mid-October.

“The other stat is that since we have been here we have conceded the second least shots in the Premier League behind Man City, so sometimes it helps you to narrow down some of the issues.

“And the issues are that we don’t concede too many shots on goal but when we do we concede goals. It’s something we are aware of when you look at our recruitment.”

A few days later Daily Telegraph journalist Matt Law, who covers Chelsea for the paper, tweeted in defence of Lampard. Law suggested it might be worth evaluating Chelsea more once new signing Edouard Mendy had played more. After all that was clearly what Lampard was getting at in a not so subtle way.

Here we are, a little over a month and seven games later. Mendy has started every one of those matches, and it’s safe to say Lampard has been vindicated. Only four teams have allowed fewer shots than the Blues this season and only two have conceded fewer goals. Across those seven games they’ve let in just one goal.

In his first nine Chelsea games Mendy has conceded just two goals. He’s the first Chelsea goalkeeper since Petr Cech to keep a clean sheet in their first three Premier League game. No player in the Premier League currently has more than his four clean sheets.

When Chelsea kept five clean sheets between October 20 and November 4 they became the first Blues side to do that since 2010, a decade ago. Remember when Chelsea used to be a byword for defensive solidity? They’re finally getting back to that.

Mendy is a fascinating keeper in many ways. He doesn’t have the ability on the ball of someone like Ederson or the jaw-dropping shot-stopping of Jan Oblak. However on the plus side he also doesn’t have his predecessor’s propensity for clangers.

So what is Mendy’s best skill? That’s hard to say, in reality his biggest strength is that he has no major weaknesses. He is a goalkeeper who instils calm into his back line, communicates clearly and is commanding in his decisions. It’s worth stating just how good his reflexes are, some of his saves off of deflections are brilliant and underrated. Furthermore he seems completely unfazed by everything that has come his way thus far.

Of course Mendy can’t take all of the credit, not that he would anyways. The entire defence is doing its job. Most fans probably would tell you that Mendy is overrated or hasn’t been as good as some would think but that’s mostly because he doesn’t have a dazzling highlight reel like some other keepers. He doesn’t have the chance, his defence keeps him protected. It took Lampard a little while to figure out the right balance but with Ben Chilwell, Thiago Silva, Kurt Zouma and Reece James he has his preferred back four.

In front of them Mateo Kovacic and Jorginho have been offering enough of a shield when they play that it has freed up N’Golo Kante to do what he does best, namely run around and terrorise the opposition. There’s an argument to be made that this is the best football Kante has ever played, he is absolutely everywhere on the pitch and is breaking up attacks with a fierce regularity. Per WhoScored no player in the Premier League has more than his 27 interceptions this season.

Lampard deserves kudos for sticking with his belief that his defence wasn’t as problematic as people thought it was. Yes there was some tinkering here and there but is that so bad? Lampard is in just his second season as Chelsea manager and bought in a lot of new players this summer. It was always going to be too early to judge Lampard in November but as we wrote before, it was about whether he could visibly demonstrate the ability to grow as a manager, which he has done so.

What’s important, particularly after the goalless draws against Sevilla and Manchester United, is that Chelsea aren’t suffering going forward. Moving Mason Mount deeper has been a big factor, the 4-2-3-1/4-3-3 hybrid gives Chelsea great balance. Of course things might end up being different when Kai Havertz returns from his period of isolation. Does he drop into the midfield three like Mount or does he play wider like Timo Werner or Hakim Ziyech?

Regardless, the balance Lampard is finding is really working at the moment. The joy of this Chelsea team as a defensive unit is that all of their attacking players are prepared to do the hard work. What that means is that there’s never too much pressure on the deep midfielder or the full-backs. That was the undoing of Chelsea teams in the past, a price they had to pay for the unique gifts of players like Eden Hazard. Now it doesn’t matter whether a player is an academy product or cost £70 million, everyone is prepared to do the work. What that means is that Kante doesn’t have to be everywhere, of course he is that’s who he is, but with less responsibility he can have a greater impact.

Sunday’s clash with Tottenham Hotspur will prove pivotal, Spurs are as dangerous a side as there is right now. If Chelsea can resist the firepower of Harry Kane and Son Heung-min it will prove their credentials as a truly elite defence. It will also show us that Lampard really does know what he’s doing and deserves the credit that Blues fans think he deserves. Already it’s clear that cutting their losses with Kepa Arrizabalaga was the right decision, even if it was a tough one to take financially. Make no mistake, this is very much Lampard’s team, and so far it’s working.