It was not the perfect start for Frank Lampard on his second coming as Chelsea manager, having started his interim-run on a poor note.
The Blues suffered a 1-0 defeat to Wolves at Molineux stadium on Saturday, courtesy of a stunning strike by Matheus Nunes. The result condemned the Blues to yet another loss, leaving them rooted to 11th position, ahead of a Champions League quarterfinal clash against Real Madrid.
After the game, Lampard identified some areas where he wants his side to show improvement, after Saturday afternoon’s defeat at Wolves, while also issuing an injury update on players who missed the game.
Lampard calls for more aggression from Chelsea
Lampard said the loss and the performance had not changed his view on the magnitude 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.”
Away from the Premier League, Chelsea will turn their attention to the Champions League, where they will take on holders Real Madrid on Wednesday. Though the Blues have struggled domestically, Lampard says it is a different competition on the continent and anything can happen.
“It’s a different competition, it will be a different type of game and it’s up to us to prepare in the right way and anything can happen,” the former England international said.
“We respect the fact we’re playing the current holders so we have to focus on that now and cannot be too despondent.
“We’ll certainly analyse the game and we have to make improvements because we feel we want to be better and the only way to get better is hard work.”
