Lampard on players he wants, Chelsea trio’s futures, Ake, Loftus-Cheek – and whether he needs a left-back
Frank Lampard spoke at a news conference on the eve of Chelsea’s game against Bournemouth. Here’s some of what the Blues boss had to say.
On Fikayo Tomori’s new contract
“He’s come a long way. He’s shown the work ethic – a want and a desire to listen and improve himself.
“I think everyone saw his performances (on loan) in the Championship last year – Derby player of the year.
“But then there were big question marks over him in the summer. Can he do it in the Premier League?
“Now, he certainly hasn’t proved that yet over a period of time, but from my point of view I had full trust in him and he’s done really well.
“I’m delighted for him – for where he’s got. The important thing now is that he doesn’t take anything for granted.
“Even though he’s got that nice contract, it’s important now that the hard work starts again. But I’ve been delighted with what I’d done.”
On Tomori’s hip injury
“Tomori’s not fit but should train next week, hopefully.”
On the battle for the top four
“Up for grabs. With huge respect to Leicester and what they’ve done so far, there’s a long way to go for all of us.
“We have our eyes on it. I don’t think we were very fancied to do it at the start of the season and it’s important we carry on trying to prove people wrong with our performances.
“Our recent form, I don’t think you can count Man City because that was a very even game, but the two games we’ve lost since have been a timely reminder for us that we’re nowhere near the finished article that we want to become. It’s important how we react.”
On Olivier Giroud’s future
“The players, all the players that are here, I won’t have any talk about anything in January until we get to January – from anybody,
“I am happy for him (Giroud) to stay, but with every player in the squad I want them to be here for Chelsea and have the right professionalism and desire to be here. He has shown me that in training every day this season so that is what I am happy with.”
On whether he wants new deals for Willian and Pedro
“It’s always an issue for the club as well as myself. As a manager I have full conversations upstairs.
“There is a money side, there is a playing side. I want players that want to be here and can perform well for us and they have done over well their careers here so that is simple from my point of view; I want good players here.”
On Nathan Ake being linked with a return to Chelsea
“Nathan came through here and when he’s gone to Bournemouth to play regular football I think he’s done fantastically well and showed himself to be a really good defender in the Premier League there.
“In terms of the back four, the centre of defence that we have, I’m very happy. It (new signings) wouldn’t be anything I consider until I feel otherwise and at the minute we can do no business.
“We have to worry about Bournemouth tomorrow, Tottenham next Sunday, Southampton, Arsenal, Brighton and then the window opens.”
On his midfield options
“I’m pleased with what we have in midfield, We also have Ruben coming back, although that’s not going to be that soon.
“I think that the schedule we’ve had – the amount of games we’ve played back to back – I think rotation for the fatigue factor and keeping players keeping fresh, I’ll certainly consider that.”
On potential new signings
“We want top-calibre players that can improve us. I’m happy with the squad. We have to look to improve if we can. It’s a joint effort – we have a scouting system. We work together.
“I will recommend players I think we can improve us but also fit in with the style and the way we want to go.
“I want people who want to come here and be a Chelsea player and want to win, so that’s what we’ll look for.”
On whether he needs a new left-back
“When you look at the players we’ve got and the quality of player I don’t think it’s a problem.
“I think we just need to make sure that at all times with our full-backs – who are very important to me and how we play – that they join in a lot and have the capacity to get up and down.
“I want my full-backs to get involved a lot. And they do – Emerson played really well the other night and Alonso was playing well in a period of games we were winning regularly.”
On when Ruben Loftus-Cheek might return
“I don’t know. Probably more than weeks at the moment.”
