Lampard lauds complete ‘90-minute performance’, praises Willian and Jorginho

Goals from Jorginho and Willian wrapped up Chelsea’s long overdue first win at Stamford Bridge in the Premier league this season. A clean sheet only added to the satisfaction of a superb all round perfomance from Chelsea, showing great attacking qualities while limiting Brighton to half chances for most of the game.

Lampard and the entire team were delighted to get the monkey off their back.

“We’ve been waiting for it. The reason we’ve not won at home [in the league] before today is because we’ve not put together a 90-minute performance to win a game.

“We’ve put together parts of games – half against Leicester, half against Sheffield United – but today we put in a good performance. It was solid, comfortable, professional, lacked more goals because we created enough to score four or five, but a clean sheet as well which is something we’ve been striving for. It was a good day all round and good for confidence in the dressing room.”

Lampard has time and again shunned off the obsession in the media regarding youth this season. The emphasis still remains over the senior figures of the team to guide the young players on and off the pitch.Today was a terrific example of the same with the veterans carrying out the responsibility of getting Chelsea over the line with vital contributions at crucial moments.

Lampard reserved special praise for Willian and moreso for Jorginho post game.

“Everyone has been drawn to talking about the young players but they will always need experienced players around them. You’re talking about Jorginho with the coolness of head to score the penalty, and Willian who not only created chances for himself and got his goal but showed fantastic work ethic as well.Those are the standards.

“Some of the experienced players can set those standards and the young players must follow. He [Jorginho] is a leader in his personality. For whatever reasons, people made judgements about him last season but I can only judge what I see in front of me and from pre-season he’s been one of the leaders in the dressing room and on the pitch.

“He wants to win and to show that in everything you do is so important. He does that so I’m pleased with him. The young players need to look up to that kind of attitude that he has daily.”

Over the past two years, Chelsea have managed to concede and crumble right after half time. The theme has followed even this season but fortunately there were no post half time fiasco to be seen against Brighton as Chelsea managed the second half expertly.

All in all a good performance, where the players followed Lampard’s instructions diligently on the pitch.

“The performance pleased me. My message to the players at half-time was not to get despondent, not to get flat or sloppy, which we did in moments in the first half. The key was to keep playing at pace because we were creating a lot.

“There was a different feel today. When the ball moved quickly, it looked good. Mason was moving it quickly, Willian was getting his shots away and moving people, Tammy was all-action. I felt the goal was coming and it was important to say that to the players and for them to take that back out because they deserved something to drop their way. The penalty was that moment.”

A very big and noticeable miss from the lineup was N’golo Kante, who has missed 4 out of 7 Premier League games this season leading to frustration and anxiety among the fans as well as in the coaching camp.Perhaps Kante’s overuse by coaches over the years is catching up finally?

Lampard expects Kante to be ready to play a part against Lille in the Champions League fixture, although not at the cost of further compromising is health.

“I spoke to N’Golo about it and I didn’t want to take the risk. He’s so important for us but it’s been difficult for him to get going because of the break-up of his pre-season, with his injury carried over from last season. It wasn’t right to risk it today but he could have a chance for Lille.”

- Frank Lampard; source: Chelsea FC

On to the Champions League campaign once again!