Chelsea manager Frank Lampard cut a frustrated figure after the Wolves game last night, firmly pointing his finger at his players for not doing what he had told them to do.
His side went down 2-1 after being 1-0 up early in the second half on a terrible night for Chelsea.
Whilst you’re here please take a moment to sign up for free email alerts over at my new project ‘Si Phillips Talks Chelsea’ – get news, exclusives, interviews, weekly insider podcasts, plus loads more to your inbox before anyone else!
But Lampard says he had discussed Wolves threat on the counter attack with his players before the game and ‘the message was very clear’ to recover and counter-press, but his players simply failed to do this and allowed Wolves to score twice losing them the game.
As reported by The Guardian, Lampard said:
“We should have seen the game out. If you’re not playing well, which we weren’t, you should hang on, not allow counterattacks.
“Maybe the players can think about that. This is the Premier League. If you don’t perform, you lose games.
“We have been given different kind of games in these last two, Everton made it difficult for us to break them down – we didn’t succeed with that – and Wolves played very much a counterattacking style. The players have to feel that on the pitch because the message was very clear about their counterattack and individuals who could hurt us and that’s disappointing.
“We had enough players to deal with it but we weren’t properly prepared to counter-press. We kept Thiago Silva back, we had numbers to deal with it but we didn’t deal with it well enough.
“I shouldn’t get too disappointed tonight as much as I didn’t get too elated after Leeds on the back of a really good run. But clearly when we perform like we did today that’s not game management, that’s not the quality levels that we are striving for.
“I still think there’s a lot of improvement to be done with the group, so I wouldn’t say I’m massively surprised because my experience with the Premier League tells me that if you drop your standards, which we have in two games, and particularly away from home, you can lose matches, so a big lesson for the players.”
It is now two defeats in a row for Chelsea, and things need to change very fast to avoid a costly slump.
With mentalities being questioned once again after defeat, it is a worrying sign at this stage of the season. There are many new signings at the club, but there had been no sign of any mentality issues in the games leading up to the Everton defeat on Saturday.
the truth is very clear, chelsea are not doing well in the front, Timo need to improve his style of playing, should strike well otherwise he will be replace. harvetz should also try his best too. we are loosing point. i advise next year January 2021, Lampard should go for Juventus forward Dyballa.
All players should step up their game, am pointing out to some issue concerning some player on the field of play, Mason mount need to be coming in from the bench not starting 11 eleven, lampard should note that, lampard is not trying for him @ll…..management as alot to do on the field and off the peaach… Thank u…