Chelsea interim-boss Frank Lampard claims there were positives to take away, despite a 1-0 defeat to the newly-crowned Premier League champions Manchester City on Sunday.
An early strike from Julian Alvarez proved to be the difference between both sides and despite a weakened squad on paper by Pep Guardiola, the Manchester outfit remained the better side.
The result saw City claim 11 successive Premier League wins on the bounce and for Chelsea, it meant they will now surely finish in the bottom half of the table for the first time since 1996.
It has been a difficult season for Chelsea in terms of results on the pitch but despite their latest defeat, Lampard took a positive perspective.
Lampard says put on a performance of ‘pride’
“We played pretty well and I am pretty pleased with the performance. It is tough here no matter what team City put out, internationals and quality young players contributing through the years,’ Lampard said.
“For us, it was a tough game and we played well after the first 15 minutes where we gave them too much respect. After the goal, we created enough here to score one or two goals.
“I want two performances as I cannot control the results. At times this season genuinely the standards have dropped and we must find a reason for that. It is about how we train, move forward and how do we hold each other accountable and create personal responsibility,’ he went on to add.
“We need to show forward momentum in the last two games to get to where we want to be. We can never be happy losing at Chelsea, but that performance deserved a draw out of the game.”
‘You should always play for pride for Chelsea. There is an incoming manager, and if that is the motivation then fine. At times they have fell short of that but today we got close to pride, you can see it in the performance and in the team. We played through midfield and switched the play, and it is a small step.”
A big surprise was Lampard handing teenager Lewis Hall a second start in consecutive games. Despite Chelsea’s lacklustre display though, the 18-year-old was one of the top performers against City and Lampard believes the youngster has a bright future at the club.
“We certainly rate him. Joe [Edwards] and Andy [Myers], who work with me, have a better understanding of him as a lad and all those things are important as well.
“He’s a quiet lad, the first thing that I’ve seen, he definitely needs to come out of himself a little bit more. I’m not asking him to change his personality but in footballing terms to affect people around him.
“In terms of quality on the ball, that’s really clear. In terms of quality, if you see him with the ball and the things he can do, he’s got the levels, he’s obviously got to add to that as he goes along.
