Chelsea fans have been puzzled over the last few weeks with no sign of young defender Fikayo Tomori, who has often been lucky to even make the bench.
Tomori was a regular feature for Lampard at the start of the season and has arguably been one of the better performing centre backs out of the four across the season.
Lampard even had named him as his ‘number one of number two centre back, back in September..
“A lot of people would have seen him as number four, he’s now number one or two as it stands.”
But at the time Antonio Rudiger was injured long term and Andreas Christensen was also struggling. But both are back in as regulars now and both Tomori and Kurt Zouma are missing out as a result.
So ironically, just as fast as Tomori went from fourth choice to first, he’s now gone right back to fourth choice, quite unbelievably.
Especially when you factor in just how poor Rudiger is looking recently, he’s become a real liability and I believe that many Chelsea fans are now thinking this.
But when Lampard explains Tomori’s absence, there is no mention of any injuries as some feared, it purely is just down to Lampard rating the other three more than him.
As reported by Goal, Lampard said:
“I have four centre-backs to choose from, so generally every week two of them are unhappy. And then people question you when you stick with a back two or back three. There is competition in that area.
“With Fiks, he always has to train at the top level, that goes for all of the young players because when you are out of the team, however much it hurts, you need to show a good attitude and train very well.
“At the moment he is and he has a long career ahead of him at this club, without a doubt. It’s been more about selection issues.
“Sometimes it’s been the young lads earlier this season who have stepped up and that was great. And sometimes they have had it difficult. So I don’t get too caught up in that conversation.
“Maturity will come for them, that’s why we have to give them some leeway this year. For Mason and Reece on Tuesday night it was a huge game for them in terms of their learning curve.
“I didn’t play my first Champions League game until I think my mid-twenties and for me it was an uplift for me at that level, let alone at their age. Reece was playing at Wigan in the Championship and Mason was at Derby with myself.
“And now they are going up against Thiago and the flying machine Davies from Bayern, who is an incredible looking player – and Gnabry as well. It was a huge test. Make no bones about it. It was a difficult night for them.”
