Chelsea manager Frank Lampard fired critics for slamming racial abuse of young forward Tammy Abraham after his penalty miss against Liverpool in the shootout.
The Blues are still looking for their first win under Frank Lampard’s tenure after suffering losses against Manchester United and Liverpool following a 1-1 draw against Leicester City at Stamford Bridge. Lampard had the chance to get his hands on silverware when Chelsea faced Liverpool in the UEFA Super Cup but the West London outfit suffered an unfortunate loss in the penalty shootout after the game ended 2-2 at the end of extra time.
Chelsea striker Tammy Abraham missed the decisive penalty of the shootout and there was plenty of racism directed towards the English forward over the next few days. However, the 21-year-old has the complete backing of Lampard as the Chelsea boss explained that he wants to support Abraham into moving forward and not allowing such a thing affect his career.
While speaking to reporters Lampard stated that fans have to take responsibility for their actions and social media racism needs to come to an end, “In my day five out of 10 in the Sun was a bad reflection of performance, Now it’s instant. And it’s not a joke. It’s not funny when it becomes hate. That’s where we go far beyond. I’m not just talking about Tammy’s situation. It’s far too easy to spout hate casually on these social media platforms. I agree it’s difficult for the players. This is modern life. They are on social media. I am concerned about it. To say they need to be thick-skinned is too easy to say. When it becomes you and it becomes hurtful, it’s a problem we have to deal with. It’s difficult to say don’t look at it. They’re all on it as soon as they go on the coach. The social media companies, are they ever going to stop someone casually putting up what someone did against Tammy? That’s their responsibility.”
