Chelsea are taking on Morecambe in the FA Cup today, and the club’s in house TV channel took the chance to ask manager Frank Lampard about the team he’d put out.
A group of youngsters had trained with the first team all week, so plenty of people were hoping to see some debuts today. But the boss has picked a very strong team, and there aren’t even any potential debutants on the bench.
“The youngsters have trained well with us but at the same time, sometimes you need to give first-team squad members a game to get some minutes,” Lampard explained in quotes picked up by SI.com.
“There’s a few in the team today with a chance to show me something. Because performances in recent weeks have dropped, a game like this is important for players whether that is individually or collectively to pick up a bit a bit of confidence,” he went on.
It’s an approach that makes total sense. If we were coming into this game on the back of a string of wins we would expect a different side, but this team is in a tailspin of confidence as it stands, and there’s no margin for error for Frank.
There’s always the next round – or the next season – for the kids to get their game. For now, the most important thing is winning this game comfortably, and getting some fringe players up to speed again.
