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Tag: lampard

  • Lampard speaks on Abramovich sack threat

    Lampard speaks on Abramovich sack threat

    Chelsea manager Frank Lampard accepts he’s likely to eventually be sacked by club Roman Abramovich.

    Abramovich has given Lampard his full backing – splashing out more than £200million to turn Chelsea into Premier League title contenders. But that money comes with an expectation to succeed, with the famously demanding owner ruthlessly axing a succession of world class managers.

    Lampard witnessed that during his playing days winning every major honour. And he has revealed how he would react if the call came.

    “The lucky thing for me, without trying to sound too comfortable, is my football career put me in a decent position,” he said. “So, if that job is taken away from me, as long as I go in with every minute thinking, ‘Can I do the best job?’ I genuinely think if it got taken away from me, you get the sack, you can’t get another job – if I’ve done the best as I can, I will be pretty happy.

    “I’ll be disappointed and look back at the million things I could have done better, but as it stands now, what’s in front of me, I’m thinking about our next game.”

    Lampard is fully aware of the advantage being a club legend has given him.

    “Not many people get a job at Chelsea after one year at Derby,” he added. “It’s clear playing 13 years at the club helped me get the job, but also in my own way I think I deserve it for the years I put in as a player and I’ve taken things on board and I know the club and I’m going to absolutely do my best to do well so I think in that situation I understand the pitfalls.

    “I had to put my ego at the door a bit and say I might ruin what might have been achieved in 13 years to a degree because if it doesn’t go well I will be judged harshly and very quickly.”

  • ‘I could ruin 13 years at Chelsea’, Lampard explains why coaching is harder

    ‘I could ruin 13 years at Chelsea’, Lampard explains why coaching is harder

    Chelsea manager Frank Lampard says life as a football manager is much harder than years spent as a player because of its “consuming” nature.

    Lampard, who moved into management in 2018, has opened up about “mistakes” he has made so far at Derby and Chelsea.

    “The life of a player is a bubble of selfishness to a degree,” he said.

    “The facts and reality is I realise now it’s much harder than playing in terms of it being consuming,” the 42-year-old added.

    “The life of a manager is 25 people in the squad, staff in the building, problems with different departments. It’s so far removed from football.

    “When you work for your coaching badges, you have to put time in. Then when you start doing it, you have to practise, you have to fail, get better, fail and have relationships with people you never had as a player.

    “Players can easily sit there and say they want to be a manager, then they start the road and say: ‘Actually, I want to be a pundit.’ I respect it because being a pundit is tough as well but in terms of management I wanted to test the water.

    “A manager gets 50 problems a day. It’s much more consuming but I love it and couldn’t live without it.”

    Lampard admits he made “a lot of mistakes” and was “finding his feet” during his first year as a manager – at Derby County – before joining Chelsea in July 2019.

    During 13 years as a player at Chelsea, Lampard became their record goalscorer, winning three Premier League titles, four FA Cups and the Champions League.

    “I can be really open that it helped me get the job – playing 13 years at the club helped me get the job,” he added.

    “I had to put my ego at the door a bit and say that I might ruin what I achieved in 13 years to a degree – because if it doesn’t go well, I will be judged harshly and quickly.

    “I am so driven personally that my biggest fear is myself. If I try to pull the wool over your eyes as Chelsea manager, it’s not going to work.

    “My football career put me in a decent position. So if that job is taken away from me, as long as I go in thinking ‘can I do the best job?’ then I think that if I have done the best I can, I will be pretty happy.”

  • EPL: I must be hard on players – Lampard

    EPL: I must be hard on players – Lampard

    Chelsea manager Frank Lampard is eager for his players to maintain their edge.

    His side are 11 games unbeaten and won four matches on the trot before the current international break.

    Signings like Hakim Ziyech, Timo Werner and Thiago Silva have given Chelsea the look of genuine contenders for Liverpool’s crown, but Lampard refuses to get carried away with their recent success.

    He said: “(I am) trying to strike that right balance, because for me a high-performing group or team, it has to be a balance between being really positive but being slightly on edge.

    “So it’s like, ‘how positive can I be where I don’t want to sound like I’m just trying to be a cheerleader here and not see that we’ve lost two games on the bounce.’

    “I can’t just keep being positive. And when we’re winning and it’s great, how can I keep them on edge, just so they don’t think we’re going to win every game, because I’ve seen that one before many a time and then you lose the next game.

    “So I think I try to create that kind of balance and I’m still striving for that. I still think a lot about that and go over it myself.

    “I think you do have to keep analysing that one because it’s always different, but I think that’s the thing that I’ve learned, that you can’t neglect that side of it.”

  • EPL: What Lampard told Mount during Sheffield match

    EPL: What Lampard told Mount during Sheffield match

    Chelsea boss Frank Lampard pulled Mason Mount into line during victory over Sheffield United.

    Lampard has deployed Mount in a deeper position back in midfield rather than as a wide attacker and reminded him of his responsibilities during the 4-1 rout over the Blades.

    The Telegraph reports Lampard told Mount to ‘stop f***ing about’ and embrace his new role 30 minutes into the game.

    The manager urged the 21-year-old to move the ball faster out to the flanks.

    Lampard was keen for dangerous duo Reece James and Hakim Ziyech to receive the ball on the right wing.

    Mount clearly took on board the instructions as his selfless display helped the West Londoners recover from going a goal down to run out convincing winners at Stamford Bridge.

  • Lampard assigns new role to Werner at Chelsea

    Lampard assigns new role to Werner at Chelsea

    Chelsea manager, Frank Lampard, has confirmed that Timo Werner will replace Jorginho as the team’s No.1 penalty taker for the club.

    Werner converted two spot-kicks on Wednesday, as the Blues beat Rennes 3-0 in the Champions League.

    After the match, Lampard was asked about why Werner was on penalty duty despite Jorginho also being on the pitch.

    “I spoke to Jorginho first because he’s been brilliant at taking penalties,” Lampard replied.

    “It’s more missing a couple recently that I felt it was time to change. Jorgi’s answer was as professional as I’d expect. He only wants to score them but he was fine with that.

    “If Timo takes them as well as today he’ll be happy. I’m happy he scored. Timo is as it stands now but of course he needs to keep scoring them. Today he did it very well.”

  • Kai Havertz tests positive for COVID-19

    Kai Havertz tests positive for COVID-19

    Chelsea manager Frank Lampard has confirmed that midfielder Kai Havertz has tested positive for COVID-19.

    “It’s significant because he’s tested positive for Covid in the testing going into this game,” Lampard told BT Sport.

    “So he’s come away from the squad, he’s in isolation as the doctor’s orders are and we move on. He isolates for that period and we’re wishing him well at home.

    “Everybody has been tested as a whole squad since and we have negative tests, so it’s hopefully a case of we’re taking, everyone is negative and we move on in the short term.”

     

  • Lampard showers praise on his first choice goalkeeper

    Lampard showers praise on his first choice goalkeeper

    Frank Lampard believes there is “a lot more to come” from Edouard Mendy owing to the Senegal international’s bright start to life at Chelsea.

    The 28-year-old joined the Stamford Bridge giants from Rennes as back-up for error-prone Kepa Arrizabalaga for a fee worth £22 million.

    With five clean sheets garnered in six appearances so far, Mendy has become the first Blue to record shutouts in his opening three Premier League matches since Petr Cech.

    As the goalkeeper prepares to face his former team in the Champions League on Wednesday, the Blues boss is in awe of the African’s performances so far, while suggesting his potentials are yet to be unlocked.

    “I am sure he will improve as it is really early days for him at the club he is settling in still to a degree,” he told media per Chelsea website.

    “I am very confident in him and he has shown great qualities so far and I think there is a lot more to come, with his attitude which is key.

    “I have seen how he wants to work, how he wants to be and the humility in him – I think he can go much further in many departments.

    “What I have seen in a short period of time with Edouard is a player that has a massive work ethic to train and push himself every day.

    “It seems his personality is pretty laid back with a tough edge when it comes to work.”

    “He has shown his qualities that we brought him into the club for,” he continued.

    “All the feedback was he had a great personality, a strong personality in the dressing room, and everything I heard, all those positives, came true. It seems his personality is pretty laid-back with a tough edge when it comes to work.

    “He is very low maintenance, he works hard, he wants to work more, and he is eager to engage with his team-mates and myself.

    “He has a smile on his face so it’s a real positive when you have a player that comes in and hits the ground running on the pitch and in the dressing room.”

    After the showdown versus Rennes, big games are coming thick and fast, and he is expected to get plenty of opportunities to impress.

     

  • EPL: Lampard reveals full extent of Pulisic injury

    EPL: Lampard reveals full extent of Pulisic injury

    Frank Lampard has revealed the full extent of Christian Pulisic’s injury ahead of Chelsea’s midweek encounter with Rennes.

    Pulisic missed Chelsea’s first five games of the 2020-21 campaign with a hamstring issue, but has gradually worked his way back into the team since making his return from the bench in a 4-0 Premier League victory against Crystal Palace on October 3.

    The 22-year-old has made four more appearances since then, and was initially named in Lampard starting XI for a trip to Burnley on Saturday.

    Lampard has now confirmed that Pulisic will miss the Blues’ latest Champions League outing at home to Rennes on Wednesday after being struck down with another hamstring problem, but hasn’t ruled out the possibility of him being available again in time for a meeting with Sheffield United at the weekend.

    “Christian had a scan yesterday that showed a very, very minor injury to his hamstring, very minor. So he’s already back outside. He won’t be fit tomorrow, but we’ll see after that,” the 42-year-old told a press conference.

    “It is obviously a relief for the injury to be minor. He made the right decision in not attempting to play the game, because he could have made it worse. So it’s clearly a relief that he will be back very soon, because he’s an important player for us.

    “With the actual muscle injuries, it’s a hard one to call, it’s forever going to be a challenge, some players that play on the edge, have such speed and acceleration in their game, maybe they can be more susceptible.

    “I don’t think that’s a one-size-fits-all answer, because it’s different for everybody. From last season we were looking at ways of managing Christian and looking at ways of being proactive in not hopefully getting so many injuries, I know that’s something he’s experienced previously in his career at Dortmund as well.

    “So we’re all working in the same direction on that one, to try to get him to be as fit as regularly as possible, because we all know his talent.”

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  • Ziyech can replace Hazard at Chelsea – Lampard

    Ziyech can replace Hazard at Chelsea – Lampard

    Chelsea boss Frank Lampard believes Hakim Ziyech is the man to replace Eden Hazard.

    Chelsea lost their chief creator in Hazard when he left for Real Madrid in 2019, while they also saw key players Pedro and Willian leave this summer.

    Ziyech could be introduced to the Premier League today at Turf Moor where Burnley and their low block defence will be awaiting the £36m playmaker signed from Ajax.

    “We had Pedro last season and Willian was a huge player,” said Lampard. “The year before that we had Eden Hazard. Those sort of players don’t get replaced on a whim.

    “With Hakim we had the potential to bring in someone with really different qualities to what we’ve had in recent years in terms of a left-footed, right-sided player, which was his main position position at Ajax.

    “I know he played in a No 10 role and he can definitely do that for us if we want to play that way.

    “But he does it in a way that he is very much about opening up chances for others with his crossing ability and final pass.

    “He’s not necessarily a winger who is going to fly past players all the time, albeit that is in his game. He can find a pass.

    “Sometimes last season I felt we lacked that option when we were playing against low-block defences.”

  • EPL: Lampard responds to Pulisic trust claims

    EPL: Lampard responds to Pulisic trust claims

    Frank Lampard has responded to Red Bull Salzburg manager Jesse Marsch, who said that the Chelsea coach was slow to trust in Christian Pulisic’s talent after he joined the club in a £58 million (€64m/$75m) deal from Borussia Dortmund.

    Pulisic scored twice against Salzburg in a 2019-20 pre-season match under the newly appointed Lampard but initially had a slow start in west London.

    Eventually, Pulisic became a first-team regular and he went onto play his best football at Chelsea after the coronavirus-enforced lockdown ended and football restarted.

    “I did read the comments and I was surprised that Jesse had managed to read my mind as well as he thought he did,” Lampard told reporters ahead of a trip to Burnley this weekend.

    “He’s recounted the conversation wrong, I have to put it correctly because it was the game against Salzburg were played and Christian scored two goals in pre-season. Fair enough, Jesse came up to me and said what a talented player Christian was which I knew and I agreed with.

    “I spoke about the fact it was so exciting to see how he could develop for us with the talent he has. That was the conversation. Jesse managed to put it across slightly differently.

    “Maybe Jesse knows the feeling of American managers and coaches that travel into Europe, but one thing I did have was I played in America for 18 months and I would never underestimate the desire that American soccer players – football players – have to learn, to improve, take on information and understand the technical side of the game.

    “So when you have that, which Christian had, and you have incredible talent, it was never in doubt for me. My only thing is I coach in the Premier League and have played here for nearly 20 years so I understand the rigours of it.

    “That brings me on to Christian’s development last year. It is clearly the toughest league in the world to come and play at a young age from a different league. It is not just Christian who will have felt that in the early stages.

    “Some of the greatest players in Premier League history, whether they came from America or Europe or anywhere in the world, have felt that. What Christian did was find his feet very quickly and have a great first season in the Premier League where he produced goals and assists.

    “I thought his performance last season was massively impressive. He will get better and better because he is a young player but I never doubted him in the first place, and that’s not me jumping on Jesse because there’s probably a bigger issue there with American players.

    “I don’t want to comment on that – he can field that one himself – but as a manager I never doubted Christian and it is important for me to put that straight actually, more for Christian than anything.”

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