Lampard: Better to be hated! 1 2
FRANK LAMPARD surveyed the empties from his Stamford Bridge homecoming and admitted it was more fun when everyone hated Chelsea under Roman Abramovich’s rule.
After 11 defeats in his last 12 games as a manager, Lampard will probably be hosting another party in the Champions League tomorrow night.
Unless the Blues procure a miracle against Real Madrid, it will be Chelsea’s end-of-season bash.
A barren season after spending €700m on players will perhaps install some humility at a club where home defeats were once as rare as comets.
But if being outplayed by Brighton, with a 26-8 shot count in the Seagulls’ favour, doesn’t ring any alarm bells on Fulham Broadway, there is nobody home in the belfry.
Care
Of course, this is not Lampard’s mess. He is the fans’ darling who was brought home to clear up the carnage of owner Todd Boehly’s absurd trolley dash.
The moon will turn to cheese before they turn on their beloved Super Frank.
“I don’t really care what they think of us as a club I guess,” said Lampard. “In the early Roman Abramovich years everybody hated us and it was good, we won. Do you know what I mean?
“We want to strive to be that team where people come and have respect for you, understanding what they are going to get, and at the moment we are not giving that.
“I can affect what happens on the pitch. We need to be better, more difficult to play against here, because there is talent in the squad — some of it is young and there has been some change.”
Lampard revealed he has been spending more time holding one-onone chats with the bloated squad he inherited from Graham Potter.
He said: “At the minute it has been more conversations and meetings than training on the pitch. Training is walk-through and low-level because of the legs, so I’m talking individually to the players.
“When we get a chance to work, we will because the team needs that. At this level we have to be on the limit and I am not sure we are. It doesn’t matter how we got here, it has to be addressed now.”
Brighton are a joy to watch. After Conor Gallagher’s wickedly-deflected opener for Chelsea, they richly deserved a Danny Welbeck — who came on for the injured Evan Ferguson before the break — equaliser and another substitute Julio Enciso’s sensational
30-yard winner.
Verve
But Albion boss Roberto De Zerbi still had his own rocket for the Paraguayan teenager, saying: “I think he finished playing after his goal and I don’t want to see like this. He has to think first of all of the squad, the team and then for himself.”
The Seagulls are in good heart to chase European football on two fronts — and if they play with such verve and conviction in Sunday’s FA Cup semi-final, it will be Manchester United drowning their sorrows at Wembley.
Lewis Dunk insisted: “They are probably favourites because most people would say they are the big club and more likely to win. But if we perform like this, we’ve got a good chance.
“As a club, we’ve never been in a position to challenge for
Europe – it’s a strange place to be in, but we want to be here.” CHELSEA (4-3-3): Arrizabalaga 7; Chalobah 5, W.Fofana 5 (James, 57,
6), Badiashile 6, Chilwell 5; Gallagher 6, Fernandez 5 (Kovacic, 57, 6), Zakaria 4 (Mount, 74); Pulisic 5 (Ziyech, 57, 5), Sterling 4 (Joao Felix, 57, 6), Mudryk 7. SUBS: Mendy, Aubameyang, Azpilicueta, Cucurella. BRIGHTON (4-2-3-1): Sanchez 6; Veltman 6 (Enciso, 28, 8), Dunk 8, Webster 7 (Van Hecke, 86), Estupinan 8; Gross 7, Caicedo 8; March 7, Mac Allister 7, Mitoma 8; Ferguson 7 (Welbeck, 39, 7). SUBS: McGill,
Undav, Gilmour, Buonanotte, Offiah, Moran.
REFEREE: Robert Jones 8.