After his first match as Chelsea caretaker manager, Frank Lampard admitted it is too soon to be able to see much of his influence on the team, but is working hard on getting his message across to the players as quickly as possible while getting to know the players at his disposal.
Frank Lampard suffered defeat in his first game back in the Chelsea dug-out, with an unstoppable strike from Matheus Nunes proving to be the difference between the sides as we were beaten 1-0 away at Wolverhampton Wanderers in the Premier League on Saturday.
The returning Lampard had only had two days to work with the players at Cobham ahead of that game, meaning his vision of the team for the remainder of the season is still very much in the early stages of a work in progress.
Discussing the task at hand in getting the Blues back into shape and playing the way he wants us to, one example was the difficulty we found in passing out from defence against a high press from physical opponents at Molineux.
‘My job in this period is to work with the team to get across my ideas of what I want and reinforce that,’ said Lampard. ‘Of course, in two days that’s difficult. I was relying on the players on Saturday a little bit and giving some messaging, which we did as much as we could.
‘We saw some bits of it but in terms of the lower part of the pitch, I think our players can always receive the ball and accept the ball, but you receive and accept the ball down low because you want to progress up the pitch. You need to find the right solutions for that which means the right positions and the right ideas, and that takes some work, so it will be part of the process.
‘Also you need to have options where you can play over or out of the press so we have to be able to do that as well, in my opinion.’
The learning process is not just a one-way street, though, with Lampard trying to get his plans across to the players. At the same time, he is also getting to grips with the players at his disposal and finding out their individual strengths and styles of play, meaning he is eager to give everyone in his squad a chance to show what they can do.
‘I have to use everything I can because I need to assess the squad quickly,’ Lampard added. ‘We have to try and find the best players to help us win games but I think having a strong competitive edge within the squad is a good thing.
‘If players train well and play well, they will get an opportunity under me. It’s a clean slate for everyone and that’s the challenge to all the players over the next few weeks.’