Chelsea boss Frank Lampard is firmly pointing the finger of blame at his players after losing 3-1 to Arsenal in the Premier League last night.
The London rivals clashed on Boxing Day and Lampard’s side were embarrassed by a struggling Arsenal side.
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But it was Chelsea that looked like the strugglers, and they are now close to dropping down with the rest of them. If they fail to beat Aston Villa in the league tomorrow night then they could see themselves dropping to 8th place in the league, a long way from a Champions League spot.
Lampard has branded his players ‘lazy’ after the match in an angry rant live on Talk Sport Radio (as cited by The Daily Mirror).
There is no escaping the fact that Chelsea were lacklustre and lacked any kind of intensity and desire to want to win the game, they were second to every ball and had no guts on the pitch.
But Lampard is not taking any of the blame, he said:
“I can’t defend the first half because they lacked the basics of football.
“The message was clear to the players. It was to be a tough game against a team that’s fighting, a team of quality, a team that would give everything for a London derby.
“The players have to take responsibility for that first half.”
“I can’t answer that because some things you can reflect on in terms of tactics, preparation and all these things but in terms of effort it’s something that just has to be a given in football. The players got it wrong.
“I am angry because I want us to win games.
“We were lazy to give away a penalty, lazy to give away a free-kick that Xhaka puts in the top corner and I am very, very disappointed in the way we approached the first half because some things in football are basics.
“It is not tactics or systems, it is do you want to run, back your team-mate out and sprint? Or do you want to jog and say ‘maybe I don’t have to run’, and we took that decision instead of the right one.”
l just pity the English/British press for not calling a spade a spade as regards Lampard’s very poor coaching credibility as a manager ( which when compared with non-british manager is a cover up praise & blame-shifting/attention-deflecting& & diversionary tactics). Who does what Lampard has done & is doing & survives it…, by this morning he should be picking up his not-so-convincing cv looking for job else where were he to be a non-british young manager.
First, he lacks the posture & charisma of a champion of a manager, he folds his hands pitiably on the touchline like someone looking for help from the opposing team ( which rarely happens in football this days except with teams headed by lost managers like himself) which forms the basis for the loss of morale from his equally drooling & lost players.
Second, it’s so clear that “my team” ego was written at the base of all his team selection (or how does one justify starting a tumbling Reece James & back-passing jittery Chilwell who were both out of touch with what’s happening on the pitch over an Azplicuenta or for sitting a Giroud on the bench in favour of a running-without-direction turboTimo).
Third of it, Lampard seems not to even know what his own style of play is. he should just go back to Derby where he’ll be more needed & better appreciated. Chelseafc is way too big for his small thinking mind games.