-
Frank Lampard blasts Chelsea players after bruising Man United defeat.
After being demolished 4-1 by Manchester United on Thursday, Frank Lampard charged that Chelsea’s team has not been working out as hard as they should this year.
Early in the game, the Blues showed signs of promise, but once again, they were let down by some appalling goal-line finishing, which allowed Erik Ten Hag’s well-oiled United machine to brutally exploit them.
Lampard said that Chelsea’s overall “standards” had been declining before kickoff, and when pressed for an explanation following the game, he did not mince words.
“It’s a simple thing to say but any team that wins in the Premier League has them [standards] as a base, because without them the tactics do not matter,” Lampard said.
“Training well every day, trying to improve, being a real collective unit. There are some variables for the players, everyone talks about the bog squad and I understand that it’s hard for the coaches this year at the club – I get it because I’ve lived that for nine league games now.
“Sometimes you can say that is maybe a factor – if you want to call it an excuse – but as a player you have to put that to the side and focus on your own game. Since I’ve been in I’ve understood quickly that some of the collective standards – and it’s for the individuals within that to realise who they are – this is not a blanket, we just have to find the reasons for why the club is where it’s at, and there are many.
“It’s not just finger-pointing at the players because it’s definitely not a lack of effort this evening, but you build up the credit through your training and your prep, and you build up a resilience. I was fortunate enough to be a player here for many years and you can look at the group and the player next to you and know that he’s worked on his standards and everything is there to rely on each other.
“It’s a bad year for the club, and many clubs have these years when we’ve had massive success for the last 20 years or whatever, but the important thing is you get to the bottom of how it improves. It needs a reboot, the club will move on in summer in terms of what the squad looks like, and as a Chelsea player where we want to be, everything has to be improved to get to the level.”
Not only will Chelsea complete the Premier League season with the fewest points ever, but their 16 losses this season are also an unwanted club record, and unless they pull off a nine-goal comeback against Newcastle on the last day of the season, they will also finish with the fewest goals ever.