Lampard asks for patience, expects improvement, promises lessons learned

Fun fact: Frank Lampard is the first Chelsea manager since Rafa Benítez to not win any of his first three games in charge.

Circumstances are very different of course. It’s not an indictment of Lampard. But it does serve to highlight that the pressure to win at Chelsea never goes away.

We all knew that. Lampard knew that as well. But it should not be forgotten that it was an extraordinary summer in many ways at Stamford Bridge, from which it will take some time to properly recover. We must have a bit of patience, at all levels of the club, from the fans to the coaches to upper management.

Sunday’s 1-1 draw against Leicester City won’t be the last disappointing result.

“There were frustrations if there were frustrations in the crowd. There were frustrations in the team and on the bench. We’re working in one way here and we want to do well.

“We know that in the circumstances that there are some tough elements this year. We couldn’t bring players in, I couldn’t as a new manager bring any players to help push the way I’m thinking, we lost Eden and he was so pivotal to this club. I think everyone’s understanding of that and we will be patient, but again I don’t want to use that as the huge factor.”

Despite the results, Chelsea have shown plenty of signs of how things might be in the near future if we just keep to it, keep working, and keep believing. Lampard expects improvement just as the fans do and everyone else does as well.

“We weren’t good enough in possession after the first 25 minutes, which gifted them possession back. We gave them the feeling that, because we didn’t score the second that they were in the game.

“In the second half we left far too many spaces for them, they are a very good team on the counter attack, they have got good individual players who can really hurt you. That was the disappointing thing, we couldn’t sustain the period in the early part of the game. I don’t expect the 100mph energy for 90 minutes, but I do expect that when you rest you do keep possession of the ball better.”

“We can do better than we did for 60 minutes today and we will do for sure. We need to look at how we played in the first half hour and replicate that because that was all of the team really at it. We need to sustain that.”

Chelsea now have a full week to prepare for the next game, which means less room for excuses but also more room (and time) to learn the lessons that we need to learn, work on them in training, and, hopefully, implement them and execute them properly on matchday.

To be sure, there’s plenty to be learned from the last 60-65 minutes of yesterday’s game, so there’s little time to waste.

“I was [very happy with the first 25 minutes] and that was the feeling in the stadium. It’s very much what we ask for. Energy, quality, closing people down and making them feel that this is a really difficult place to come to. I know, as I mentioned, that it’s unsustainable as a whole but all those moments were great and it was good to see every player in the team doing their bit.

“The next stage is to say when it goes against us and that it changes slightly, and it will do in the Premier League, we have other ways. I don’t want to be seen as an attacking team that flies out of the blocks but you can give us a little sucker punch, that can’t be the way. That’s why there was some really strong lessons from today. We’ll enjoy watching back the first 25 minutes, but the rest in the second half won’t be so enjoyable. It’s important we do that as we need to improve on that.”

-Frank Lampard; source: Football.London

Let’s get to work!