Frankly speaking
Lampard defends Loftus-Cheek ahead of Liverpool clash
● Chelsea manager Frank Lampard leapt to the defence of Ruben Loftus-Cheek after the midfielder was criticised for his poor performance in their season-opening win earlier this week.
Chelsea beat Brighton & Hove Albion 3-1 on Monday, but Loftus-Cheek was singled out for criticism by television pundits due to his lack of pace, poor passing and for often losing possession, leading to his withdrawal after an hour.
However, Lampard said the criticism was unfair as the Englishman was still finding his feet after returning from an Achilles injury layoff last season and promised there was more to come from the 24-year-old.
Ruben’s story
“I know Ruben’s story probably second best to how he knows it,” Lampard told reporters ahead of today’s home clash against Liverpool. “Ruben had a terrible injury, an injury that he worked very hard to come back from over the course of last season.
“(He) trained brilliantly to get fit again for the start of the season.
“I think if there is harsh criticism ... it’s certainly very harsh because to come back from an injury like he has, has been difficult for him and he’s put a lot of hours into it.” Chelsea’s match against Liverpool has already had a war of words between the two managers in the media with respect to the two clubs’ transfer spending.
However, Lampard said he does not expect to rekindle the rivalry that had led to a touchline spat between himself and Jurgen Klopp during Chelsea’s 5-3 loss at Anfield in July.
“I’ve got a huge amount of respect for him as a manager, I always have,” Lampard said.
“What he has done at Liverpool in the course of time has been incredible.
“There’s nothing in it for me. The competitive nature of the 90 minutes can always slightly boil over in different directions.” Lampard confirmed fullback Ben Chilwell, defender Thiago Silva and wingers Christian Pulisic and Hakim Ziyech were not yet fully fit and would sit out the game at Stamford Bridge.
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has stressed that Thiago Alcantara’s arrival at Anfield does not mean the club will be forced to sell a player in the current transfer window.
The Premier League champions have agreed a transfer fee of £20m plus £5m in add-ons with Bayern Munich for Thiago.
The Spanish international signed a fouryear deal with Liverpool.
Thiago bade farewell to Bayern in an open letter on Friday and he was unveiled as Liverpool’s latest acquisition later on the same day.
“I must adapt to the team as fast as I can in the situation and the context that we are living right now,” Thiago said.
“I will help the team in a defensive and offensive [way] and also in a mental aspect.”
Thiago has joined an already bulging Liverpool midfield alongside Jordan Henderson, Georginio Wijnaldum, Fabinho, Naby Keita, James Milner, Curtis Jones, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Xherdan Shaqiri and Marko Grujic.
Wijnaldum has been linked with a move to Barcelona, but Klopp is happy to retain all his players this season.
Thiago deal
“There’s no impact on anybody else’s future in a negative way,” he said.
Thiago is Liverpool’s third new recruit with Kostas Tsimikas and Diogo Jota making the move to Anfield — a stark contrast to today’s opponents Chelsea, who have spent more than £200m on making half a dozen new signings as Frank Lampard rebuilds his squad.
Though Klopp recently said Liverpool were different from “clubs owned by countries and oligarchs”, he maintains he has no problems with how Lampard and Chelsea do their business.
“There is no rivalry. You make a story that I said something about the transfer business of Chelsea,” Klopp said.
“What I said is that in the situation we’re in, we cannot deal with the situation like other clubs — one of them was Chelsea. I respect a lot what he is doing.” — Reuters