Glenn Hoddle insists Frank Lampard ‘has to be given time’ at Chelsea

Frank Lampard needs time to turn it around at Chelsea, with the team still a work in progress, according to Glenn Hoddle.

Pressure is building on the Chelsea boss after they slipped to a fourth defeat in six games at home to Manchester City on Sunday.

Despite a £253million splurge in the summer window, Chelsea find themselves eighth in the table after 17 games – three points off the top four and seven adrift of leaders Liverpool. 

Glenn Hoddle (left) insists Frank Lampard (right) needs time to turn it around at Chelsea

And when asked by the Evening Standard if Lampard should go, Hoddle gave the thought short shrift. 

‘I am not even going to contemplate the first part of that question. He has to be given time’, he said.

Big-money buys Timo Werner and Kai Havertz have struggled to fire since arriving at Stamford Bridge last summer, but Hoddle claimed that this was just part of the process of building a team. 

‘It is a work in progress at Chelsea. They are falling short against the top teams and they have to find a way mentally to overcome that. 

‘They look better against the lesser teams but at the moment they look as if they are not quite ready to really win the league. 

Chelsea slipped to a fourth defeat in their last six games at home to Manchester City

‘They have talent in the squad but it is going to take some time, they are going to go through these rough patches. That is the process of building a side.

‘You just hope the owner has that vision as well and understands that.’

Owner Roman Abramovich has developed a ruthless reputation for sacking managers at Chelsea, but Lampard insisted on Sunday that he was unflustered by questions over his future despite the demoralising collapse to Manchester City. 

He said: ‘At the minute, we are in a tough period. I understand it as I played here for a long time. I understand the minute that you lose a few games in a short period of time then everyone looks and asks questions.

Hoddle, who managed Chelsea in the nineties, says the club are a ‘work in progress’

‘Then everyone looks at it differently and says you spent that much money.

‘I will always feel the heat. I felt the heat when we were on our good run because I know that around the corner can be the negative.

‘I am not going to speak for people above me because I can never do that. That’s why I couldn’t answer a month ago about me getting a new contract, I can’t answer what they’re thinking about now but it is what it is.

‘It is my job to focus on working, not what they’re thinking, that would just distract me and I can’t do it.’