Frank Lampard: Chelsea should not sack manager Jose Mourinho

The Portuguese manager is under severe pressure with the Premier League champions already having lost eight games in all competitions.

Saturday's 3-1 defeat to Liverpool left Chelsea in 15th place in the table and Mourinho was handed a one-match stadium ban and £40,000 fine for misconduct on Monday so will miss Saturday's game at Stoke.

The 52-year-old admitted a misconduct charge after confronting referee John Moss at half-time in the defeat to West Ham last month.

But former Chelsea midfielder Lampard told Sky Sports that while the club's decisions to bring in numerous managers for short periods have been successful, this time they should stick with their current boss.

"There is such a desire to win that the owner, board, director have taken a decision to win," said Lampard. "And I can’t complain. We’ve had a lot of managers – it might look at bit messy written down but we’ve got a lot of Premier League titles and the Champions League.

"What has been said about the club in the past two years is that they want stability, they want a longer game. That’s the interesting thing now.

"How important is stability? If you are getting results I suppose you are not that concerned. But it’s the ideal. Manchester United was the ideal – Sir Alex Ferguson being there, the great Liverpool managers of the past were the ideal and I think it makes sense.

"You want to see a manager staying and making a club successful, you want to see young players coming through into the team. And that’s the intriguing thing at the moment to see if they stick with [Mourinho] having signed a four-year contract. He has got the best record Chelsea have ever had as a manager. He’s a proven world-class manager. I think they should stick with him but results certainly need to change now."

Former Manchester United full-back Gary Neville also insisted that this is a key moment in Chelsea's season and that Mourinho must change his strategy if he is to turn their fortunes around. "I think it’s Mourinho’s style in that he does get the maximum for two or three years out of players," he said. "I think it’s the way he’s always managed. He’s managed at clubs where [chairmen] have trigger fingers - Real Madrid, Chelsea, Inter Milan.

"He always managed in a certain way but we are now talking about stability and managing for the long term and looking after the interests of the players for the long term."

"The spending has cut down in the last two or three years... You talk about a change of philosophy of the football club and stability and bringing through academy players, Jose Mourinho learning to manage in a different way for the longer term. This is now the killer moment for me, the crossroads moment for Chelsea."