Lampard shrugs off Mourinho tactics jibe

Frank Lampard brushed off suggestions by Jose Mourinho that the Chelsea boss copied Antonio Conte’s system in the 2-0 victory at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Ex-Chelsea boss Conte famously quickly switched to playing three centre-backs and wing-backs as they won the Premier League in the Italian’s first season in charge in 2016-17.

Against Spurs,Lampard changed his tactics after a run of four defeats in five and played with Marcos Alonso and Cesar Azpilicueta as wing-backs and Antonio Rudiger, Kurt Zouma and Fikayo Tomori in the heart of the defence.

“I am not trying to clone anyone’s system,” Lampard insisted after seeing his dominate possession and take all the points thanks to Willian’s fist-half double. “The way I play it is different. The players took the plan on incredibly well.

“Tottenham are playing very well, players who can run behind very well. They never got in that pass today. It helped us control offensively. It allowed Mason Mount and Willian to get behind Tammy. It gave us loads of control of the ball.”

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