Frank Lampard's Chelsea return has gone far from smoothly. In his four games in caretaker charge, the Blues have scored just the solitary goal - a deflected Conor Gallagher effort - whilst conceding seven. No wins, no points.
The Todd Boehly experiment, PR exercise or whatever it is labelled at, has failed. The ultimate goal of turning to the club's all-time top scorer was more for a change of mood and to give the Blues a placeholder for their next appointment.
Although the string of defeats, falling out of Europe and even further behind the top half hasn't exactly given fans much to smile about, Lampard not being Graham Potter has stunted at least some of the negativity aimed towards the dugout. Afte rall, it's hard to be too angry at possibly the club's best ever player, especially in circumstances like this.
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Attention has been very much away from the 44 year-old in recent weeks though with all eyes on who will be usurping him in the hot seat for next season. That looks set to be Mauricio Pochettino. From club icon to the best manager in the era of major rivals Tottenham.
The reception that the Argentine gets at Stamford Bridge should he land the 'hardest job in football' according to Potter, will be intriguing. It has been near on four years since Pochettino was last in the Premier League. He holds the best record against Chelsea of any Spurs boss.
Since leaving England both Jose Mourinho and Antonio Conte have gone the other way, though, and neither appointment has soured the standing of the successful managers in the eyes of Chelsea supporters. A good start for Pochettino will be key to win fans over either way but he already has the blessing of Lampard from his playing days.
The pair never went head-to-head as coaches - or haven't yet - but Lampard did play against his Southampton and Tottenham teams as a player between 2013 and 2017. Close to his eventual retirement Lampard also cited Pochettino as someone he wants to emulate somewhat.
"I want to manage," he said. "Most of my career I wasn't sure but, when I got into my 30s, I became a lot more interested. Much as I'm interested in coaching I've just as much interest in how to deal with people.
"I see someone like [Mauricio] Pochettino and his relationship with players -- like both a boss and a bit of a friend -- and I love that I sometimes see coaches trying to be clones of someone else. I don't want to be a clone, I want to be my own man."
Lampard has also praised the job done by the former Paris Saint-Germain boss, saying as a pundit: “With Pochettino I felt there was a lot of build-up play. Yes, they would try to play from the back. I think now there’s an element where these four [Son, Kane, Alli and Moura] can really hurt teams, so does it mean we go a little bit more direct into Kane and get runners off him?
“I think they scored a couple of goals against Bournemouth recently [by going direct]. Maybe going back to front a little bit quicker.
“They’ll still play because they have some good players. You’ll find Aurier tends to get quite high up the pitch and then they end up a little bit more stable, physically strong in these [defensive areas, with the back four and the two sitters]. That’s the kind of protection, he is building into the team.”
Pochettino now faces the unlikely task of building Chelsea back up from their lowest point in recent memory, replacing Lampard at the helm as expected at the the end of the season.
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