Ben Guest
Frank Lampard said that there are plenty of lessons for Chelsea to learn following their 4-0 drubbing at the hands of Manchester United, calling the defeat ‘a reality check’.
The Frank Lampard era appeared to have started brightly, as Chelsea dominated the early exchanges at Old Trafford, with Tammy Abraham’s early effort crashing off the post.
However, it was United who took a somewhat undeserved lead from the penalty spot, following Kurt Zouma’s clumsy challenge on Marcus Rashford, who duly dispatched his spot-kick.
Chelsea continued to create opportunities in the first half, but after the break, it was Manchester United who had the better chances, and they took full advantage, romping to a 4-0 win thanks to goals from Anthony Martial, a second from Rashford, before a debut goal for substitute Dan James wrapped up the three points.
Speaking after the game, Chelsea legend Lampard admitted that his side made ‘poor decisions’ and made plenty of ‘mistakes’, calling on his side to be ‘self-critical’ of their performance.
4-0 – As well as being the joint-heaviest managerial defeat of his career so far, Frank Lampard has suffered the heaviest defeat by a Chelsea manager in their first game in charge since Danny Blanchflower lost 7-2 at Middlesbrough in December 1978. Crying. #MUNCHE pic.twitter.com/QbBlZBFMSh
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) August 11, 2019
“Four mistakes for the goals. We have to be self-critical for that,” Lampard told Sky Sports.
“We controlled the first half hour but made some poor decisions. We should be in the lead at the break. It is easier for them to play at 2-0 3-0. I can’t look at it and be happy.
“They have pace and if you turn over the ball and allow them to run in behind you they can hurt you. We were comfortable in the first half. But there are lessons there. You can’t make mistakes at this level. But if you look at the game, it is not a 4-0 game.
Lampard did refuse to blame the lack of his ‘big players’ though, with the likes of Antonio Rudiger and Callum Hodson-Odoi being ruled out through injury while N’Golo Kante was only fit enough for a place on the bench.
“We are missing internationals and big players but I don’t want that to be an excuse. We were competing for long periods. We made four mistakes and they put them away. It is a reality check for us all.
“We are Chelsea. We don’t want to come here and lose 4-0.
“It wasn’t a 4-0 game for long periods but we need to accept it.
“But we have Super Cup coming and then first home game so we take the good bits and bad bits and analyse them.”
Solskjaer claims Rashford’s performance against Chelsea was ‘perfection.’
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