Lampard gets lesson after fourgoal rout

FRANK Lampard bemoaned the “harsh reality” of the Premier League after his Chelsea reig n sta rted w it h a thumping 4-0 defeat at Manchester United on the opening weekend of the season.

A Blues line-up featuring several players light on topflight experience started brightly at Old Trafford, where both Tammy Abraham and Emerson hit the woodwork but they trailed at the interval to Marcus Rashford’s penalty.

Anthony Martial doubled United’s advantage after the hour mark before further strikes from Rashford (right) and substitute Daniel James gave the hosts victory by a margin that somewhat flattered them.

Chelsea had the lion’s share of possession and more shots at goal but were ultimately left reeling from their heaviest loss to United at Old Trafford since 1965.

Head coach Lampard said: “We were clearly the better team for 45 to maybe 60 minutes. What was evident was that we made individual errors which led to four goals out of their five shots on target, there’s the harsh reality for us.

“If we go in at half-time 2-1 or 3-1 up, as we probably should have done, if we were more clinical and had maybe a stroke of luck here and there, the game would be completely different.

“Football is won and lost in the boxes. They won in our box by being clinical.

“We had so many more shots than them and attacking entries and getting high up the pitch. That was where we let ourselves down in not putting the chances away.

“It’s quite hard to talk about it after 4-0. You can sound stupid but anyone who watched the game would have seen that.

“We gave them clear opportunities to score and they took them.”

Lampard had been immediately hindered on his appointment last month by the club’s transfer ban over the summer, a factor the former England midfielder highlighted.

He added: “I can’t drag people out of the medical room to play.

“Let’s be clear, with the injuries we have at the minute, with the fact we couldn’t bring in players, this is going to be a work in progress to a degree.

“We can’t run away from the fact that we know where we’re at. We couldn’t bring in players.”

“I’m not going to complain too much about that. I want to work.”

Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer admitted his side had their moments of fortune throughout the contest, particularly in the first half.

The Norwegian said: “You take a win because it’s about points first.

“They pinned us back and created chances. We’re still a work in progress, we still know we’re not anywhere near the finished article.”