Another day, another loss. Since the November international break, Chelsea's form has taken a turn for the worse. Before the break, we had won seven Premier League matches in a row. We have now lost three of the last four.
And the turn in form cannot be chalked up to strength of schedule either. Apart from Manchester City, where Chelsea played quite well, the other two losses have come against sides flirting with the relegation zone — or in the case of Everton, in the actual bottom three for the first time in about 20 years.
All in all, it has been Chelsea's sloppiness, rather than opposition's brilliance which has led to this, as Lampard lamented after today’s poor lunchtime entertainment.
“All the goals were sloppy. The first goal was something we were aware of, Richarlison in the air in the box, and then the other two were just really poor defending from us. We were looking like getting back in the game at 2-1 and we can’t give away a goal like the third, it was ridiculous.”
And it wasn't just the defence that was ridiculous and disappointing.
While Chelsea created plenty of dangerous situation, we didn’t create enough chances and we certainly didn’t score enough goals. As Lampard points out, for whatever reason, the players decided to try walking in the ball rather than just shoot when presented with an opportunity.
Frank Lampard on BT Sport: "First half, we created a lot of chance but we don't want to shoot enough. We dribble into their box and we try to beat someone else. We need to shoot more" #EVECHE #CFC https://t.co/EYWxevy92x
— Nizaar Kinsella (@NizaarKinsella) December 7, 2019
Lampard also wasn't too happy with our physicality, or lack thereof.
“I think in work-rate we generally match up but in moments of physical contact, they were direct, that is understandable, and we have to deal with that. We did not deal with it well enough.”
So, where do we go from here?
According to the boss, we need to work work work. Sounds familiar.
“Work.
“We had it nice, we were winning games but this is the Premier League and we went to City and played pretty well and lost the game but the two defeats since then are signs of where we need to get better, because we played two teams that have been having a tough time and we have allowed the games to go away from us for different reasons, and they are big lessons for us.”
-Frank Lampard; source: Chelsea FC
Next up for Chelsea are Lille in the Champions League where Chelsea need a win to progress further in the competition and avoid dropping into the Europa League.
Let’s hope for less ridiculousness on Tuesday.