Lampard on transfer targets, Loftus-Cheek, facing Mourinho, Chelsea’s home form and more
Frank Lampard spoke at a news conference ahead of Chelsea’s game against Tottenham. Here’s some of what the Blues boss had to say.
On the latest team news
“We’re pretty good. We’ve got a fit squad, so it’s my selection problem I suppose.
“Ross (Barkley) is fine. (Fikayo) Tomori is fine for selection and (Olivier) Giroud is fine. They’re all fine.”
On Ruben Loftus-Cheek
“He’s making good progress, which is really positive. We’re happy with that.”
On Chelsea’s poor recent results
“We’ve got a good spirit and a good group. Questions obviously start to be asked of yourselves – in-house – when you get some difficult results and it’s important to be very up front and honest with each other.
“From my point of view, I see a positive group in training, a group that’s training hard and is together. Now of course we need results to turn because the last few we haven’t been happy with.
“It’s important not to get caught up in the negativity of a few bad results. We’ve qualified in the Champions League and are fourth in the league, which I don’t think many people would have expected coming towards Christmas.
“It’s important to be confident, positive and keep moving forward.”
On which areas he would like to strengthen in January
“Only areas that are in my head and discussions that we have in-house. Until January starts we won’t get too far with that.
“I’m not going to divulge things in public now. The most important thing is Tottenham and the games in the interim.”
On facing Jose Mourinho
“I’m happy to go up against Jose because I played under him as a player and he was a big influence on my career.
“To go up against him at Manchester United for Derby last year was a big deal for me and that remains – I’ll always have respect for him.
“The bigger thing is Chelsea v Tottenham; what that rivalry means and what it should mean to our players, because that’s the beauty of football. Our fans will demand on the pitch what they feel, which is absolute passion to go and win the game.”
On whether Chelsea are better away than at home
“Possibly and that’s something we maybe need to address. Away from home we’ve got good results.
“I don’t think it’s always (about) home or away. The issue is more the type of game, because we’ve played a lot of games recently where teams have defended against us and we haven’t been able to break them down or take our chances and then we’ve conceded the occasional goal which has turned the game against us.”
