I’m not sure “embarrassed” should be the right feeling, sadly I think we as fans need to shift our perception of the club - we are just not very good, it wasn’t embarrassing, it’s our level, the league table does not lie.
Individually we have better players than our relegation rivals but we are NOT a “team” - there’s almost no cohesion or balance to how we play so any individual merit is null and void, we are always going to be beaten by a well drilled team.
I don’t blame Lampard (or Benitez really - obviously a terrible appointment regardless), the team are not good enough and whilst it’s easy to point to Carlo as the “real level” of our team, it was clear his tactics had been figured out by the end of the season too - let there be no mistake, the man was no fool - he knew what the future held.
We are truly poor with really basic things;
- first touch is almost non-existent throughout the whole team, they’re always chasing a yard or two to get the ball under control.
- tackling, utterly woeful - we rarely ever go into a tackle and come out with the ball - at best it runs loose, usually back to the opposition.
- passing, constantly backwards, underhit or unnecessary (taking 2-3 passes to do what most teams do in 1) - we do not pass into space, always behind the run.
- composure - non existent - we hoof out of defence when not under any pressure and the ball inevitably comes right back at us.
- 50/50’s are at best 70/30’s for us.
- throw ins, I’ve said before but I’ve never seen a team surrender possession from their own throw ins as regularly as us.
I do believe when Lampard says instructions aren’t being followed on the pitch because you can often seen panic n the faces or our team, they just lose their heads.
The club need a reset but I think relegation would be the death knell rather than the reset - there’s criticism of Kenny and Holgate (rightfully so) but it’s not their fault, it’s just their level - if they weren’t academy products we would not have bought them (nor would any other prem side) and that’s just the reality we’re dealing with.