‘Chelsea are a mess, who is coaching them?’ – Tony Cascarino questions Frank Lampard, says Blues are becoming ‘just another Champions League group team’

Tony Cascarino believes Chelsea will become ‘just another Champions League group stage team’ unless Frank Lampard gets his act together and sorts out his defence.

Lampard may have earned plaudits for achieving a top-four finish and qualification to the Champions League in his first season in charge of the Blues, but that praise will only go so far if he can’t get his team to compete at Europe’s top table.

That was Cascarino’s verdict on Sunday, after the ex-Chelsea striker watched his former side get humiliated by Bayern Munich as they were dumped out of the last-16 with a 7-1 defeat on aggregate.

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The Blues were humbled by the German champions in 3-0 defeat in the first-leg at Stamford Bridge back in February, and they were turned over again in the second-leg in Bavaria as Robert Lewandowski scored twice in a 4-1 victory for Bayern on Saturday.

The manner of the defeat sparked questions over Lampard’s coaching. The former midfielder has been widely praised for his work with this young Chelsea team, and has even been nominated for Premier League Manager of the Year, but there are still plenty of issues that were made obvious by their European exit and FA Cup final defeat to Arsenal.

And Cascarino has questioned who exactly is coaching his players, saying they are an unorganised mess at the back, watching them is ‘like Groundhog Day’ and the Blues are simply far too easily beaten for a top side.

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Reacting to the performance on the Weekend Sports Breakfast, the talkSPORT pundit said: “I don’t know who is coaching the players at Chelsea – they’re a mess!

“Defensively, they are a total mess.

“Watching them last night, they give up space all the time which is one of the worst things you can do, because people expose you and exploit what you give them, especially a team like Bayern.

“I keep seeing the same things, it’s like Groundhog Day, like déjà vu – a player gets out wide, crosses it in the box, Chelsea’s centre-backs are both looking at each other and someone heads it in or finishes it off quite simply.

“They have got quality, they have world class players in their team and have got some of the best youngsters around - there are a lot of strings to Frank Lampard’s bow.

“But if he doesn’t get this defensive side right and make Chelsea much tougher to beat, they are not going to do anything.

“In the Champions League they’re going to become just another group stage team, no more.

“Whoever the personnel is, and he’s changed many centre-backs over the course of the season, the same thing is happening.

“Reece James, he’s really good going forward but he can’t defend for toffee!

“These clichés that are being thrown around with Frank and how he’s doing, yeah he’s made the Champions League, yes he’s got this young squad, but I’m just looking at what I see… and, even Chelsea fans know, the team is an easy side to play against more often than not.”