There's perhaps no better example of Chelsea under Frank Lampard than the boss' first competitive game in charge - the 4-0 loss to Manchester United on the opening day of the 2019/20 season.
The youthful Blues played some exciting football and were arguably the better side on the night, but they ended up being comprehensively thumped by a United side who took each of their chances with real composure.
It soon became clear that this would be a theme for Lampard's Chelsea. Their attacking football is some of the finest in the league, but defensively, it's been almost comical at times.
Fast-forward a year and Chelsea returned to Old Trafford on Saturday looking to avenge that humiliating defeat, and while they may have only come away with an underwhelming point, the progress in their performance was abundantly clear.
Being on the wrong end of smash-and-grabs is a common occurrence for Lampard. That 4-0 defeat fell into that bracket, as did defeats to Bournemouth, Southampton and Newcastle United last season. Even this year's 3-3 draw with West Bromwich Albion showed just how fatally Chelsea can be picked apart.
Questions have been asked of Lampard and his willingness (or even capability) to work on his porous defence, which is seen by many as the biggest weakness of his side.
We saw progress made in the Blues' recent 0-0 draw with Sevilla, and they followed up that solid performance with another clean sheet against United - just the fourth time since Lampard's arrival that Chelsea have kept consecutive clean sheets.
It might not have been the most entertaining football to watch, but it's clear that Lampard has worked with his side on improving their defensive shape and finally making themselves difficult to beat.
In both the Sevilla and United games, Chelsea have looked comfortable. Lampard has sent his side out with more structure and discipline, and while he'll be frustrated to have not seen any goals, he'll have been ecstatic to see two clean sheets.
He's not done it by himself, however. Left-back Ben Chilwell, centre-back Thiago Silva and goalkeeper Édouard Mendy were all brought to the club this summer, and all three have made an enormous impact on the first team already.
While it was Petr Čech who recommended Mendy, Lampard deserves the credit for identifying Chilwell and Silva as solutions to his problem. Despite pressure from fans to pursue other targets, he stuck to his guns and is now reaping the rewards.
Chilwell's work rate and speed have helped him replace Marcos Alonso, whose frequent mistakes regularly left Chelsea trailing, while Silva's experience and leadership appears to have settled his fellow centre-backs.
Judge Chelsea's defence now that it is ready to be judged. The error-prone goalkeeper and defenders have been replaced, and unsurprisingly, Chelsea look stronger. They look capable of stopping teams from scoring, and in the three games in which the aforementioned trio have all started, they have kept three clean sheets.
Concerns about the Blues' output at the other end of the field feel a little hasty. Sure, this expensive forward line have gone goalless in the last 180 minutes, but we all know that they're capable of getting back among the goals any second. They have nothing to prove.
It's all about finding balance, but the important thing is that there is obviously a balance to be found. Chelsea can attack and we now know they can defend. It's just about doing both simultaneously, and that'll come.
Fans calling for progress have been given exactly that. Lampard has the squad that he wants and he's now got them playing in a sustainable manner. Patience will be rewarded.
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Source : 90min