What a difference a few weeks makes for Chelsea and Frank Lampard.
The Blues were riding high through the first game of December and looked like genuine challengers for the Premier League title. But a woeful run of form struck Lampard's men, resulting in four losses, one draw, and a single win from their most recent six league matches, dropping the London club all the way down to ninth place ahead of a Matchday 19 clash against neighbouring Fulham.
The poor run through the busy holiday fixtures has resulted in the inevitable talk about Lampard's job security, as Chelsea's not exactly known as the most patient club in England.
Shoot-Out: Who deserves to be in world team of the year?
On the latest episode of "Shoot-Out," hosts Steve Bower and Greg Brady discuss the merits and likelihood of Lampard's potential dismissal by Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich, with the guys falling on opposite sides of the debate.
"It might be time," Brady said. "It may be time for Roman Abramovich to have that chat with Frank Lampard. I don't think he's doing it, but I might consider it [if I was him]."
Despite Brady's openness to the idea, Bower dismissed the notion of Lampard's imminent departure as "utter nonsense" while acknowledging Abramovich's itchy trigger finger on previous managers.
"I know Frank knows the script when you go into Chelsea," Bower said. "But this is a different script, even by Chelsea standards. Let's remind ourselves — as if we needed to — that when they appointed Frank Lampard, they couldn't sign a single player for two transfer windows. Then they reduced the ban to one transfer window and still didn't support him in January and bring a player in. So he went a whole season where he had to blood up those young players and did terrifically well.
"Let's remind ourselves Chelsea finished in the Champions League places [last season]. Let's also remind ourselves that Chelsea have got through the Champions League group stage and into the knockout stage."
While Brady recognized Bower's overall point, he took issue with using the Champions League as a measuring stick given Chelsea's current place on the table and the team's talent injection ahead of the campaign.
"The only way to maintain Champions League status, though, may be the rational decision to get another manager because this team is not jelling right now," Brady said. "I'm not sure about the mix of players — there's managing the players you have, and there's the importing of the players you have. Those are two different functions for a manager."
Watch the entire episode of "Shoot-Out" above or on DAZN Canada's YouTube page.