PRESSURE Lamps: I know the heat’s on, I’m under no illusions at all... but I’ll thrive off that
FRANK LAMPARD admits the arrivals of Timo Werner and Hakim Ziyech ramps up the pressure on him.
The club were under a transfer ban when club legend Lamps, 42 yesterday, replaced Maurizio Sarri last summer, giving him as near to a free pass as is possible for a Chelsea boss.
He gave youngsters including Mason Mount (right), Tammy Abraham and Reece James their chance, and they have repaid his faith by putting Chelsea in the mix for a top-four finish.
Since the ban ended, though, Lampard has been granted access to owner Roman Abramovich’s chequebook. And while he’s thrilled at £48million
Werner (right) and
£38m Ziyech’s signings, he knows expectations will change as a result. Lampard said: “The pressure probably does change because of the amount of money we have spent and I can get that.
“But there’s pressure in this job whatever.
“We’re a well-supported and well-followed club, and scrutiny is big, as we know – that’s why we love the Premier League and that’s why we’re trying to do our best.
“So I don’t mind the idea, I get it. We’re trying to improve and I’m under no illusions.
“I will have more pressure on myself. Of course, bringing in players we feel are improvements, you have to go and show that, so that will be up to the individuals themselves and that will be my job
as well. So if the pressure ramps up, that’s fair enough.”
Chelsea restart 12 points behind second-placed Manchester City and a whopping 34 points behind leaders Liverpool.
Lampard added: “We do know there is a big gap going upwards, when you look at the performance of Liverpool and City in the last couple of years, so we need to really try to work to close that gap.
“And we have to be ready to give the players who come in, the two players you’re talking about, some time to adapt to the league.
“Hopefully it’s not that much, we really believe in their qualities, but, yes, we want to be working towards closing that gap above us.”
For now the battle for the top four is Lampard’s priority – and while he doesn’t believe the run-in is compromised because Manchester United and Tottenham have been able to get Paul Pogba and Harry Kane, respectively, fit again, he accepts the problem of players’ contracts expiring before the season ends does muddy the waters.
Lampard said: “If it has fallen in certain clubs’ laps that players get fit, we have a couple of players who are fit ourselves so that’s fair enough.
“But in terms of the contracts, yes, there is an issue there.
“We are hoping to have the extension of Pedro and Willian
“But if our squad looks different to what it looked like in the first part of the season then it changes it for us without a doubt.
“So, of course, that’s what it is and we have to get our heads down and work and finish this season as well as we can.
“But they are clearly two important players for us and it will be very unfortunate if we don’t have them.”