Lampard focusing on positives, feels support of club in work that needs to be done at Chelsea

It’s been a week since Chelsea’s latest loss. But while time can heal many wounds, it hasn’t changed the harsh reality of Frank Lampard’s situation. Even if his job is not in “immediate” danger, he’s certainly in need of a win, and so are the team. And I don’t just mean (what should be) today’s gimme against fourth division Morecambe. (Let us not even consider losing this one.)

Having spent over a decade playing for Abramovich’s Chelsea, Lampard certainly understands the precariousness of his position better than the narrative might give him credit for, but there’s little he can do to change any of that outside of the football pitch. So the focus is fully on the work, and the improvement that needs to happen. This is the way.

“All I want to concentrate on is the job in hand, I can’t control everything and I certainly don’t want to rely on what’s happened in the past.

“What I see right now in terms of the position of the club, a month ago everything was rosy. Now everything — and very quickly — is negative. I have to look positively and things I can’t control outside of that I feel are a waste of time.”

Whether those with the ultimate power at the club share Lampard’s positive outlook, appeal for patience, and insistence that we can improve in the same way he improved himself as a player — work, work, and more work — remains to be seen of course.

Lampard also understands this, having seen more than his fair share of managers walk through the revolving door during his years as a player. In fact, sentimentality wasn’t enough for his own Chelsea playing career eventually either. When it’s time to move on, it’s time to move on. That’s how football works, especially at this level.

But the feeling over the past 18 months has also been quite different from previous Abramovich years, so perhaps the notion of proper support from the club for a long-term plan and project isn’t just an idealized daydream, but actual reality.

“I have felt huge support from this club in the period I’ve been back as a manager. As a player, I felt huge support for 13 years and, in the end, I left the club because they wanted to move onto other things.

“I understand what football is. I understand the demands and expectations. [...] I understand there is work to be done here and the position we are in.”

-Frank Lampard; source: Goal

One thing’s for sure, we’d all feel a lot better with a win or two or ten on the bounce.