Chelsea has sacked manager Frank Lampard on Monday after a poor run of results left them languishing in mid-table in the Premier League.
It had been a “very difficult decision” to let go of the 42-year-old, who is the club’s record goal-scorer, Stamford Bridge club said.
“We are grateful to Frank for what he has achieved in his time as head coach of the club,” Chelsea said in their statement.
“However, recent results and performances have not met the club’s expectations, thereby leaving the club mid-table without any clear path to sustained improvement.”
Roman Abramovich, who is the club’s owner said: “This was a very difficult decision for the club, not least because I have an excellent personal relationship with Frank and I have the utmost respect for him”.
“He is a man of great integrity and has the highest of work ethics. However, under current circumstances we believe, it is best to change managers.”
Former Paris Saint-Germain bossThomas Tuchel, who was abruptly sacked by the French champions in December, is in line to take over, reports said.
Chelsea are struggling in ninth place in the Premier League table, 11 points behind leaders Manchester United.
They have lost five of their past eight Premier League matches after a good start to the season.
Lampard signed a three-year deal in 2019 and despite a transfer ban, led them to the FA Cup final and a fourth-place finish in his first managerial campaign at Stamford Bridge.
But a huge outlay of around £220 million ($300 million) on new players including Ben Chilwell and German attackers Kai Havertz and Timo Werner has failed to translate into improved results.
Lampard’s points-per-game average of 1.67 is the fourth-lowest of any permanent Chelsea manager in the Premier League.
Tuchel only became available a month ago when he left PSG, less than five months after taking them to the Champions League final, which they lost to Bayern Munich.
The 47-year-old German won back-to-back league titles with PSG, but that was not enough to satisfy the club’s Qatari owners, who replaced him with former Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino.
Prior to PSG, Tuchel impressed at Borussia Dortmund, having started his managerial career with Augsburg and then Mainz.
Juventus forward Cristiano Ronaldo has been ruled out of Sunday’s Serie A game against Champions League rivals Atalanta with a flexor muscle issue.
Coach Andrea Pirlo said the
36-year-old Portuguese striker, the top scorer in Serie A this season with 25
goals, would rest to avoid risking a more serious injury.
“We have an important
absentee. Unfortunately, Cristiano will not be taking part in the match due to
a problem with his flexor,” Pirlo told a pre-match press conference.
“Over these past few days, he
has not been able to recover from the problem sustained after last Sunday’s
match against Genoa.
“He hasn’t been able to push
himself this week. It would be too risky for us to bring him to Bergamo
tomorrow.
“We have decided to leave him
in Turin to rest and we will try to have him back for Wednesday’s match against
Parma.”
Champions Juventus are third,
12 points off leaders Inter Milan, with their nine-year reign looking set to
end.
They play fourth-placed
Atalanta who are just a point behind, with next week’s game at
relegation-threatened Parma.
Pirlo blamed the five-time
Ballon d’Or winner’s problem on fatigue.
“Cristiano has always been in
excellent condition,” said the Juventus coach.
“Unfortunately, the three
matches in the national team have led to an accumulation of fatigue which is a
problem for everyone.
“Cristiano also told me that
in the national team he should only have played two games, but then that goal
not given against Serbia led him to play the third as well, otherwise he would
have been back at Juve’s disposal before the third game.
“An accumulation of
everything, travel and games, can lead to fatigue. (Manchester City manager
Pep) Guardiola also said it, there have been too many matches and the squads
are too tight and these are the consequences.
“We also saw it in the
Champions League, with (Bayern Munich’s Robert) Lewandowski who was unable to
play the Champions League quarter-finals League due to an injury picked up in the
national team.”
Juventus can however count on
Argentina striker Paulo Dybala who will start for the first time in over three
months, after a long knee injury layoff, partnering Alvaro Morata upfront.
Italy defender Leonardo
Bonucci has recovered from Covid-19 contracted while with the national team but
will start on the bench.
The General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, Pastor Enoch Adeboye, on Saturday morning, met with Ekiti State Governor, Kayode Fayemi, at the Government House, Oke Ayoba, Ado Ekiti, the state capital.
Speaking after the meeting, the Chief Press Secretary to the governor, Yinka Oyebode, said the 79-year-old cleric paid a courtesy call on the governor.
The Yoruba self-determination rally organised by the Ilana Omo Oodua is underway in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital.
Hundreds of members of the
group whose leader is an 86-year-old Emeritus Professor of History, Banji
Akintoye, had initially scheduled the take-off of the rally for the ancient
Mapo Hall but the heavy presence of armed policemen forced them to change the
venue.
They are addressing people at
Mapo Roundabout but they were not disturbed by the police in any way.
The agitators are armed with banners and Yoruba nation flags while leaders of the group addressing the people are saying Yoruba people are tired of staying with Nigeria.
One of the leaders of the
group, Basorun Kunle Adesokan, said Yoruba were no longer part of Nigeria and
the people want to be an independent nation.
He condemned the insecurity in
Yorubaland, saying the people could no longer stand the injustice in Nigeria.
Adesojan said, “We are no
longer part of Nigeria. Yoruba people are determined to stand alone. We are
starting the rally here in Ibadan because this is the capital of the Yoruba
nation.
” Our brothers in Kwara,
Lagos, Kogi, Edo, Delta and other states are here. We are not going to use
violence, we want the Yoruba nation. No retreat no surrender. Let Hausa go
their way, let Fulani go their own way and Igbo people should also go.
“The rally has taken off, we
won’t stop until we achieve our aim.”
One of the leaders of Itsekiri
youths present at the rally, Isaac Ajatitan, said Itsekiri people were part of
Yoruba and would support them to achieve this aim.