Frank Lampard identified some key areas where he wants Chelsea to improve quickly after Saturday afternoon’s defeat at Wolves, and he also gave a fitness update on players not involved in the game.
Our new caretaker manager had watched the contest decided by a rocket of a shot by Matheus Nunes, one of four Wolves shots on target to Chelsea’s one.
Lampard said the result and the performance had not changed his view on the size of the job he has taken on.
‘It is a big task, you are managing Chelsea Football Club,’ he began.
‘We know we are not in the position we want to be and there is always a reason for it, so I was a aware of that and I did not expect to solve everything in one day.
‘Analysing it, in a Premier League game you have to have more aggression in your game, more speed, more competitive duels that go your way, rather than the opposition.
‘That is baseline stuff against a team fighting for their Premier League lives. It will always dictate the result of the game regardless of the talent. There was a little bit of that today and the players need to be aware of that because without that you can’t win games and be the team that Chelsea has been at different times, and we want to get back to.
‘I am here to help with that,’ he added, ‘and it not stinging criticism but are their reasons we can be like that at times? I know there is a lot of talent there in the squad, I have seen that in the last couple of days, and I look forward to working more with it.’
One player Lampard could not work with at Molineux was N’Golo Kante as the midfielder’s minutes are being carefully managed. He will be available for the Real Madrid game.
‘After his injury, the idea of game, game, game is too much,’ Lampard said.
‘Azpi is nearly fit and has been training with us the last couple of days. He needs a little bit of fitness.
‘Mason Mount had a feeling in his pelvic area, the injury he has been carrying. He has trained in those two days but is struggling a little bit. Marcus Bettinelli has a small problem but no big deal.’
Having given that news, the caretaker manager began to look ahead.
‘I really appreciate being back and I love being at Cobham and representing the club but the practical side is what matters to me, and that is training with the players, some of which I have not had much conversation with at all yet because of the time constraint.
‘That is important to me so I am very happy to be back but disappointed I could not give the fans a win in the first game back.
‘But we go again and have a huge game waiting for us on Wednesday in the Champions League and I am very excited about that.’