What did Lampard learn from Chelsea's 4-0 drubbing by Man Utd back in August?

An awful lot can happen in football in six months and the benefit of hindsight makes Manchester United's 4-0 rout of Chelsea on the opening day look more anomalous than it did at the time.

'It wasn't a 4-0 game,' reflected Chelsea manager Frank Lampard ahead of Monday night's rematch at Stamford Bridge, echoing his thoughts and the thoughts of many on that August afternoon.

And in the context of what has unfolded since, with Chelsea sitting fourth and some six points ahead of United down in ninth, it was clearly premature to draw too many conclusions from what seemed an emphatic scoreline.

As Lampard said on Friday, he struggled at the time to pick too much fault with Chelsea's performance in what was his first Premier League game in charge.

'I'd be the first to criticise myself, or us, or to ask that we look at ourselves and I was honest with the players afterwards,' Lampard recalled.

'I said: 'Let's not walk away from the small details that made it a 4-0. But don't take this as a big kick in the teeth because, in terms of performance, it shouldn't be.

'So I didn't find the United result a seminal moment or think 'wow, we've lost 4-0'. It didn't feel nice on the day and it would be great to correct it on Monday, but at the same time I didn't take it as a huge hurtful thing.'

The sense that Lampard could very quickly take Chelsea forward was confirmed by another good performance in a losing cause a few days later against Liverpool in the UEFA Super Cup in Istanbul.

It did take a little time for a consistency of results to come but Chelsea's position in the top four is certainly no fluke, even if they have seen their margin of safety eroded by Tottenham and others lately.

They remain in the FA Cup and have a Champions League last-16 showdown with Bundesliga leaders Bayern Munich to look forward to.

So what would Lampard have learned on that afternoon at Old Trafford and how did it impact on the season since?

DON'T BE SO OPEN

The reason Lampard didn't believe the 4-0 defeat was 'a big kick in the teeth' was because Chelsea played well and controlled the game for large parts of the contest.

They enjoyed a good proportion of possession and created a number of excellent chances they didn't take before being picked off repeatedly on the counter-attack.

It would have been a different story had Tammy Abraham and Emerson scored with efforts that cannoned back off the woodwork, while David de Gea made an important save from Ross Barkley.

In the end, Chelsea's openness, exacerbated by the fact they were chasing the game after Marcus Rashford converted an 18th-minute penalty.

Once they'd taken the lead, United dropped back more and sought to pick Chelsea off on the counter, which they did clinically after half-time.

When Chelsea pushed Barkley, Mason Mount and Pedro further forward that afternoon, effectively turning their 4-2-3-1 into a 4-2-4, United had loads of space to exploit with just a quick pass or two out of defence.

Lampard was taught a harsh lesson but Chelsea have been guilty of being too open in other games this season, such as West Ham's 1-0 win at Stamford Bridge in November.

Or when Arsenal's Gabriel Martinelli was allowed to run straight through their defence to score in the 2-2 draw last month.

LACK OF SPEED IN THE TRANSITION

While United were able to break at lightning speed to kill off Chelsea's chances with goals by Rashford, Anthony Martial and Dan James in the second-half, Chelsea were sluggish in the same process.

Going forward, they tried to fan out to stretch United, for whom Harry Maguire and Aaron Wan-Bissaka were making competitive debuts, but United were organised and good at covering players out of position.

Chelsea just didn't have the snap to move the ball quickly with Jorginho and Mateo Kovacic at the base of their midfield disconnected from Mount and the others further forward.

They did manage to create their first-half chances through weight of possession and pressure, but they had nothing on the counter compared with the way United worked the ball.

How Ole Gunnar Solskjaer must wish he could bottle this performance as it's very much the template for how he'd like his United team to play and the reality this season has often been very different.

Chelsea have improved but can't exactly be considered a brilliant counter-attacking unit.

N'Golo Kante has been encouraged to take a more advanced position at times this season, leaving the sluggish Jorginho to act as the man responsible for turning defence into attack.

Jorginho has been linked with a summer move back to Italy, allowing Lampard the chance to sign a more dynamic midfield player.

Chelsea could do with finding a solution to the transition issue on Monday night since the game could very easily fall into the same pattern as August, with United happy to sit back and pounce on the counter.

CHAOS AT THE BACK

There's no doubt Chelsea were shambolic in defence at Old Trafford once United kicked into top gear in the second-half.

Kurt Zouma looked like a rabbit in the headlights when Rashford ran at him in the build-up to the second goal and Martial got in ahead of Cesar Azpilicueta to score from close range.

Azpilicueta and Andreas Christensen were split by a simple long ball over the top before Rashford effortlessly made it 3-0.

And while James profited from a fortunate deflection for the fourth, the ease with which Kante was sucked out of position and Azpilicueta was out-paced by Pogba was scary.

Lampard was keen for Zouma and Azpilicueta to form an effective central defensive pairing, at least until Antonio Rudiger returned from injury.

But there weren't many clean sheets early on and Chelsea developed an unwanted habit of conceding late equalisers.

It was no coincidence that the positive results started to come more regularly when Lampard placed greater trust in 22-year-old Fikayo Tomori through the autumn.

Christensen has been back in the side alongside Rudiger of late and you wonder if Lampard is any closer to knowing who his best combination is.

What is clear is that, now unrestricted by a transfer embargo as he was last summer, Lampard will surely look for a new centre-half this summer.

TAKING YOUR CHANCES

Lampard already knew this but during his season with Derby County before coming to Chelsea, you might get away with missing a few chances in the Championship and not get punished. It's a different matter in the Premier League.

That's why the missed opportunities in the game at Old Trafford, and the timing of them, were so frustrating. In all they had 17 shots that day, with seven on target, and yet failed to score.

It's become a familiar story as the season has unfolded - Chelsea are eighth in the Premier League when it comes to converting their chances, with 43 goals from 188 attempts or a 22.9 per cent ratio.

There's also been justifiable concern that too much of the scoring burden lies with Tammy Abraham, who has scored 15 of their 68 goals in all competitions this season. Jorginho is next highest with seven.

It's been particularly acute in recent weeks with Abraham struggling with an ankle problem yet unable to get any rest because Lampard doesn't trust Olivier Giroud or Michy Batshuayi to lead the line.

Fatigue is starting to affect even the younger player and creativity is drying up, with Chelsea not scoring from open play in their last three league games.

Chelsea also failed to sign anyone on loan in January, despite Lampard requesting a new striker, even on loan, and so the problem still hasn't been solved.

Lampard even went as far as saying that their lack of business last month now made them 'underdogs' in the top four race.

We'll certainly have a clearer picture once they've played United on Monday night.