Chelsea put in a markedly improved performance against Barcelona on Monday, beating the Catalan side 2-1 to bounce back from a loss to Kawasaki Frontale on Friday.
Speaking to the club’s official website after the game, both David Luiz and Pedro used the same word when discussing what had changed.
Luiz said he was “happy with my team because we played with intensity,” while his colleague Pedro praised the team and said that the remaining games gave the team a chance to “show our potential and keep working with vision and high intensity.”
The fact that they both used the I word does kind of hint that it might be something Lampard has been drilling into them behind the scenes. Last season saw plenty of pretty patterns, but not a huge amount of intensity. At times there was little effort in pressing, and little forward momentum when the team had the ball.
For all the playing out from the back that we did, the ball rarely reached the halfway line with much forward momentum. Hopefully, under Frank, that will all change, and the intensity that the players are talking about can become a major factor.
