Lampard denies new signings are “unsettling” as Chelsea continue to suffer defensively


Lampard denies new signings are “unsettling” as Chelsea continue to suffer defensively

Lampard 1

The Chelsea Boss seems to be torn between the bright vision offered by the new starlet and the defensive problems his side suffered in the recent results.

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Lampard assured that the new signings, Werner and Ziyech will not hamper the current squad’s team chemistry, in the aftermath of a humiliating performance against Sheffield.

Chelsea lost 3-0 to Sheffield the same day as Ziyech was revealed in the Club colours. Along with the two signings, Chelsea is also eyeing Kai Havertz and Ben Chilwell in their sights.

Lampard also insisted that his current side has work left to do in the aftermath of the defeat to Sheffield, which puts their Champions League qualification in doubt with Leicester and United putting on the pressure.

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“If you want to be a Chelsea player and be in the Chelsea team and squad and fight for the Premier League, to fight in Europe and to fight for trophies you have to focus on yourself,” Lampard said in his post-match Zoom chat with journalists.

“At the moment, going into this season, we were 30-odd points off the top two last season. If you want that gap to close, you have to focus on yourself. If players come in, that should be the nature of the beast playing for Chelsea. It shouldn’t be a problem for anyone.

“I feel today a huge inquest is not needed because of where we are at. The games are coming thick and fast, we’re nearly at the end of the season. I will analyse the game myself certainly but for the players, the biggest thing is that they have to be positive and look to the next one.

“I know the feeling as a player. It was a horrible game for the players and none of the players played well. When you do that at a place like Sheffield United when they are playing well, it is a very difficult place to get anything out of it. I won’t dwell on it this time and I will concentrate on the games ahead and the players will too.”
Chelsea’s defeat on Saturday meant that the blues have conceded the highest bolas for a top 10 side with 49 goals, with a struggling defense.

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While the prospects of reinforcement in the attack has certainly made things exciting, it is the defense that is causing trouble and problems to the Chelsea legend.

“It was certainly one of our worst days of the season in terms of performance and you get what you deserve on that front,” Lampard added. “Defensively, we have to be absolutely focused on the games ahead”.

“I would love to have consistency in the back four, or back two or three, or whatever you want to call it. That is what you strive for. Unfortunately this season we have made mistakes and individual errors where you end up striving for it.

“That is the position we are in. The only way out of it is hard work with the individuals involved to get through this season as we’re still in a good position considering the expectations at the start of the season, then we’ll look forward.

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“Amongst other things, you don’t want to concede that amount of goals. There are many reasons for those goals when we look through the season. Sometimes I bemoan the fact we don’t score enough, that gives you the feeling of comfort in games and nervousness can create problems that lead to goals.

“We know we have made too many errors in terms of giving goals away and it is something that we have to address.”

Lampard had to switch the formation around three times, in an attempt to cope with Chris Wilder’s unique system. It sees his center-backs overlapping his full-backs while also providing plenty of bodies behind the ball when they lose it.

Lampard rarely used two strikers, but was forced to bring on Oliver Giroud to combine with Abraham in the second half to create some goalscoring chances after a complete lack of attack in the first half.

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“I am not sure. We felt the game needed something slightly different from us; we were struggling to play through because we were too slow,” he concluded. “So we decided to go a bit more direct at times. I felt the game called for it. It made us more dangerous but not enough. We’ll see going forward.”

Chelsea will look to get back to winning ways on Tuesday against bottom-of-the-table Norwich City. The Canaries were relegated back to the Championship this weekend following a 4-0 thrashing at the hands of West Ham.

Source: Goal

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