Phil Hay has said that he noticed Frank Lampard “doing nothing” and “saying nothing” and seemingly devoid of ideas during the first leg of the play-off semi-final between Leeds and Derby.
Leeds won the first leg at Pride Park 1-0, after 4-1 and 2-0 wins in the Championship earlier in the season.
Talking on the latest episode of the Inside Elland Road podcast (2:30) Hay said that he was expecting a change to the way Derby approached the game after already losing twice to Leeds.
“We were talking beforehand about what Lampard might change in this game,” said Hay, “because in both of the previous games there were definite issues with ball retention, issues with the amount of space Derby were giving up in midfield, in both games there were issues with the gaps developing between the front three and the midfield behind them.
“It didn’t feel like there was much of a change in the game on Saturday, it didn’t feel like there was much of a tweak to the system or strategy and I was left midway through the first-half, I remember about 10 minutes before half-time we were sat there and I was saying Lampard was kind of stood watching, doing nothing, saying nothing, not really giving any direction despite the fact that Derby were back-pedalling.
“It left me wondering whether there was any more strategy for Derby than to score an early goal to light up the crowd. It was a capacity crowd and there was a decent atmosphere before kick-off but it felt like a balloon being pricked once Leeds got into the game.
OPINION
This is a fascinating observation from Phil Hay, and a damning indictment on Lampard. You would think he would have changed the way his team was set up after two fairly comprehensive defeats by Leeds earlier in the season. Lampard was quick to point out that he does analysis after Bielsa’s infamous Powerpoint meeting following spygate, but Derby fans will be hoping he’s done some more between Saturday’s game and tomorrow’s second leg. He’s going to have change things up on Wednesday to have any chance of progressing and to show that he has the tactical depth in his locker to counter a manager like Bielsa. Has Bielsa got into his head? It certainly seems that way and the biggest enemy for Leeds on Wednesday is surely going to be complacency. Hay added that he doesn’t think Lampard knows what to do in these sorts of situations and you can put that down to a lack of experience as a manager. It’s for that reason he should have doffed his cap a bit more to Bielsa during and after the spygate scandal.