Lampard on Kante, Man Utd, team selection for cup clash – and more
Frank Lampard spoke at a news conference yesterday on the eve of the game against Manchester United and he confirmed that N’Golo Kante and Antonio Rudiger are still unavailable. Here are some of the other things the Blues boss had to say.
On Chelsea’s seven-game winning run
“We’re improving. That’s the thing we’ve been striving for since the beginning of pre-season.
“The really pleasing thing is that there have been lots of good signs in those seven wins – lots of things we like and lots of things we know we can keep improving on.
“It’s nice. But I don’t want to get carried away – football will always bite you if you do – but at the moment the improvement we’re getting should encourage us to keep working.”
On expectations
“People do expect because it’s Chelsea – transfer ban or no transfer ban. I don’t mind that and am used to it and as a player.
“It’s a positive at the minute – I’d rather be managing expectations in this way than flip it around.
“I try not to listen to too much talk that goes too far ahead about where we might end up or what might be in the future. If we do that we’ll have a problem.”
On whether he has spoken to his players about the 4-0 defeat at United
“I’ve said nothing about that. It feels like a million miles away. Gone.
“I’m not disregarding it. When you play against a top team like Manchester United, with top players, they can hurt you in moments and they did it to us four times in a game that we performed pretty well in. So I don’t think the context of that is going to be hugely relevant tomorrow.”
On the importance of the Carabao Cup
“I’ll target them all. But it’s one that comes earliest in the year and you find yourself very quickly potentially in the quarter-finals if we win.
“We’ll target them all and certainly give a very professional approach where we want to win every game and we know that we’re up against a top opponent.
“We’ll give it the same focus as we gave Ajax last week and will give Ajax next week.
“Every game as a Chelsea player must be one that you give absolutely everything to try and win.”
On possibly making changes
“I have to be aware of the fact that we haven’t changed the team very much.
“That’s my prerogative when I think the team is playing pretty well but this game may be an opportunity for other players who are not playing.
“As a player, I wanted to play every game but the beauty of sitting on this side is you do see things slightly differently and you have time to think about the bigger picture.
“The demands on the players are even more in the modern day so I have to take those things into account but we’re not taking this game lightly.
“Even if I make changes – I’ll make them because I believe in the squad being strong throughout.
“If there are players who step out of the line-up with a view to the coming weeks, it will be done with the big picture in mind.
“I understand how players are and they want to play so we’ll try to have the right conversations and let them know what the position is.”
