Harry Redknapp has slammed Chelsea for their “knee-jerk” decision to sack Frank Lampard and questioned the summer signings of Timo Werner and Kai Havertz.
Lampard was relieved of his duties at Stamford Bridge on Monday, less than 24 hours after overseeing a 3-1 win over Luton Town in the fourth round of the FA Cup.
However, that result did little to detract from Chelsea’s dire Premier League form as five defeats from their last eight fixtures heaped pressure on a club legend.
A 2-0 loss to Leicester City at the King Power Stadium last week saw the Blues slip to eighth in the standings, and the board have opted to make a change instead of trusting Lampard to turn the team’s fortunes around in the second half of the season.
One of the main factors behind the 42-year-old’s dismissal was his failure to gel a formidable team together following an investment of over £200 million ($274m) in the transfer market, with the likes of Werner and Havertz flattering to deceive.
Redknapp, who managed Lampard at the start of his playing career at West Ham, thinks he deserved more time to complete a long-term project at Chelsea and has suggested that he might not have had the final say with regards to the recruitment of a big-money German duo.
“It’s very disappointing to hear the news this morning,” the former Hammers and Tottenham boss told talkSPORT. “On the back of a good result, beating Luton in the FA Cup, I thought they’d give him a bit of time.
“I thought [Ole Gunnar] Solskjaer was sure to go, no way he was going to survive, but Manchester United gave him a bit of time and suddenly they have a little run and turn it around.
“Everybody goes through bad spells; Jurgen Klopp is going through one now at Liverpool, Mikel Arteta is going through one at Arsenal as well.
“People need time. Losing four or five games doesn’t suddenly make you a bad manager! Surely you’ve got to have more faith in people rather than giving them that knee-jerk reaction.
“When you look at the players, people say he’s spent all this money, did he bring the players in? Did he bring the Germans in? Management is so different now, managers aren’t always responsible for signing players.
“The recruitment for me in the summer, all the money they spent, I don’t think they spent it well. I’ve not been impressed with the players they’ve brought in apart from Thiago Silva who they brought in on a free transfer, the rest of them there are big question marks over.
“The two German players have been massive disappointments, massive. I’m not even sure Timo Werner is cut out for Premier League football, the physical side is too much for him.
“I doubt very much whether Frank had a big say in over who came in.
“If they were worried about his lack of experience, maybe they should have brought someone in with a bit more experience around him. You need people around you when things are not going well, and he didn’t have that.
