Chelsea manager Frank Lampard has admitted that his Blues side must go through a “quick learning process” after suffering from familiar failings at Stamford Bridge in a 2-0 Premier League loss against the south coast club Southampton.
Four days on from their superb win against Jose Mourinho’s Tottenham Hotspur, fourth-placed Chelsea once again struggled at Stamford Bridge, following recent defeats against West Ham and Bournemouth as another below-par display was the reason for the defeat.
Although the home team had 66.5 percent of ball possession, Chelsea lacked quality in the final third and was deservedly beaten by a Southampton outfit that defended superbly and scored two wonderful goals through Michael Obafemi and Nathan Redmond that typified the South coast team’s counter-attacking threat.
While speaking to reporters after the loss against the Saints, the 41-year-old Lampard explained that his team needs to work better at breaking teams down “We need to be better at breaking teams down, simple as that. We need to do more, it’s a similar story – it felt the same as recent games. Credit Southampton for that, they were organized and they got their goals on the counter.”
The Englishman was then asked whether inconsistencies in form were to be expected with a number of young players in his team and he replied by adding, “Maybe, that’s part of the process to a degree, but I think we’ve got enough to be better than we were today and better than what we’ve been at home really. It does have to be a quick learning process now for us.”
Chelsea has now lost back-to-back matches at Stamford Bridge for the first time since 2011 since Andre Villas-Boas was in charge, but a fourth win in six games continued a superb resurgence for Southampton who moved into 14th place after battling relegation a few weeks ago.
