Lampard on Kante, Rudiger, Watford, his team selection and Tomori’s Fifa 20 stats
Frank Lampard spoke at a news conference yesterday on the eve of Chelsea’s game against Watford. Here’s some of what the Blues boss had to say.
On Antonio Rudiger reportedly declaring himself fit
“He’s not fit. I saw the quotes but there’s been a miscommunication.
“I was surprised by the quotes because he’s not fit. He’s going to see a consultant on Monday because he has an ongoing issue in his pelvic area which is bothering him.
“We’ll have to wait until then for a further update.”
On Chelsea’s injured players
“Every player that’s not in the squad because of injury, it’s disappointing. But it comes with the territory. Injuries are there.
“Rudiger and Kante are obviously top players. They’ve carried over injuries from last season. They’re different injuries now but it’s been a domino effect.
“The players will be more frustrated that anyone else because there’s nothing worse than being a player when you can’t have an input into what the team’s doing every week.
“It’s disappointing for me because I want to be able to select from them. But then of course that brings opportunities for other players.
“We’ll keep going and as soon as both of them (Rudiger and Kante) are fit – N’Golo’s close, he is working with the team now – then we’ll be all the better for that.
“Ross Barkley is still not quite right but is not far away. Andreas Christensen is pretty much fit as well. It’s the difference between fit and match fit.”
On Christian Pulisic now starting games
“He pretty much started the season like that. He played in the Super Cup, didn’t start at Manchester United and then started the next few games. That’s the competition (for places) we have.
“People seem to think It was his debut against Burnley. It wasn’t. Far from it.
“But of course performances like last week give him the opportunity to throw himself in there and let’s see him reproduce that sort of stuff.”
On Fikayo Tomori’s Fifa 20 stats
“I’m surprised about Tomori. He is fast – very fast. I remember Fifa when I was about 37 years of age and my pace was 35, so I was slower than my age, which was really strange.
“I take those rankings with a pinch of salt and so should Tomori. The best thing for him to do would be to show it in every game he plays, which he has done so far.”
On facing Watford
“Firstly I look at us; what can we do? We must (also) understand that a team with the quality of Watford – we saw what they did last year and we know the personnel are very similar to last year and they were getting big results and regularly being a very strong team and making the FA Cup final.
“We cannot underestimate a team that will be hurting because they haven’t won for a while and will have every ambition to try and win this game. I certainly have even more focus on what we need to do.
“On paper you look at us going to a team that are bottom of the league. But every game in this league has huge challenges – and one of the challenges is that they’ll be a bit wounded. The other challenge is that they’re a good team.
“The good thing about our winning run was that we dealt with challenges – we dealt with Burnley and their type of football, dealt with Newcastle and how they came to the Bridge, and Watford will be another challenge.
“If you want to be top four and want to be where we want to be then you have to show consistency.
“That’s why I’m not getting over-excited with our winning run. We’ve got a long way to go. Carry it on on Saturday.”
On his team selection
“I am not here to rotate for the sake of it. Willian and Pedro are top-class players who are at different stages of their careers but can give us a big input as well [as Hudson-Odoi and Pulisic].
“There is competition in those places specifically. It keeps them on edge which gives me a problem, but it’s a good one: it keeps them trying to perform.
“I understand players want momentum and want to play and there is not the pressure that if you have one game below par then you don’t play – it can’t be that extreme.
“But it is choice I need to make every week. I will go as I see it.”
