Frank Lampard has said he is ‘pretty happy’ but wants ‘a lot more’ from his Chelsea team after a mixed first season at the helm of the club.
Chelsea are currently fourth in the Premier League standings but inconsistent form has left them 34 points behind league leaders Liverpool, while football is currently on shutdown due to the coronavirus pandemic.
This season has been of transition for the club after the summer sale of star-man Eden Hazard to Real Madrid, while breaking through young talent such as Tammy Abraham, Mason Mount and Fikayo Tomori and Reece James.
Frank Lampard says it has been a mixed season for him in his first year managing at Chelsea
Lampard in an interview with Sky Sports News was questioned about how he felt his first season back at Stamford Bridge on the dugout has gone.
He responded: ‘Mixed places, I am always the first to criticise myself, to look at what we could have done better.
‘You have to get beyond that, it’s more thinking I am pretty happy with where we are in fourth position. It was always going to be a competitive or difficult year this year to be around the top four and we’re there at the moment.
‘But it’s more how can we progress from here. We have youth, we have been searching for consistency, but I want a lot more. Reflection time, for the staff as well, has been good. How can we get more out of us?’
Football is currently on hiatus as the world deals with the coronavirus crisis.
This has meant teams are unable to get together and train as they would normally do, but Lampard has said his team haven’t been totally left to their own devices.
With football on lockdown, Chelsea sit inside the Champions League positions in fourth place
He said: ‘It is a bit of a mixture – we are always in touch and that’s not just me. That’s the fitness coach, strength and conditioning, all the staff are in touch.
‘Certain coaches will be in touch with them regularly, they get plans every week. The last week we came off it a little bit. They always have a coach in contact, they are doing some video calls on the bike or strength in conditioning.’
Lampard was also questioned about whether he knows where his players fitness levels are at, with no guaranteed date on when Premier League football might resume.
Tammy Abraham and Mason Mount have impressed since breaking into the Chelsea team
He said: ‘It is very hard to absolutely manage that. When you are asking them to run in that hour a day, one player can travel to somewhere where they can do open running, football-based running, so you need to have a level of trust with the players.
‘What we are trying to do is that it’s not the idea that they are on their feet, it might be fun for me but it’s not fun for them to keep them in the condition. If there is a chance they have a shorter pre-season coming up, the players need to be as ready as they can be.
‘The players are good pros and you have to trust in that. Probably the one benefit from it, is the injured players we have. We went into this period with four or five major injuries, so it has given them time to have rehab and specific work at home and hopefully that gets us a bit fresher when we come back.’
