New Chelsea boss Frank Lampard has finally opened up on what he demands of his players on the pitch along with his game style and lifted the lid on how he will try and deal with the transfer ban which is currently imposed on the club.
The Blues find themselves in a bit of a tight spot at the moment as they have had a few key members leave the club this summer. It started off with Belgian winger Eden Hazard as the 28-year-old winger publicly admitted his dream was to play for the Los Blancos and made the move to the Spanish capital in a staggering €132 million move.
Hazard’s departure was followed by Maurizio Sarri as the Italian took up the job vacancy at Juventus leaving the void at Stamford Bridge. The 60-year-old master tactician spent only one season at the West London outfit and despite the limitations and criticism that he faced, Sarri guided Chelsea to a third-place finish in the Premier League table and also won the Europa League title with the London side.
But Sarri was succeeded by a familiar face at Chelsea in the form of former Blues midfielder Frank Lampard after the 41-year-old spent just one season as a manager with Derby County before returning to Stamford Bridge as a manager this time around.
Lampard is currently in Ireland with his Chelsea squad as the prepared for preseason training and has admitted that he wants his team to work hard and play with high energy on the pitch, “I know the club very well, I know the players very well. I have my own way that I want to work with the players and I have to say in one week that we have been training I have been very happy with the attitude and the quality of the players. My job now is to work hard in pre-season with them. I like my teams to play with a lot of energy and speed, with and without the ball so I want to win it back as quickly as we can. When we have the ball I want to move the ball quickly and create chances and win games and feel like we are playing football that we enjoy. So that is my job now”
The ex-Blues’ midfielder is unfortunate to take charge of Chelsea when the club is undergoing a transfer ban for two windows but Lampard is looking at the positive side of things as he will not have to stress or worry about the players he needs to purchase this summer, “A club like Chelsea always wants to improve in terms of the transfer market, if you can bring in players who can improve the squad you look at that. But the decision and the story was made before I got the job. The transfer ban is here so it is probably a waste of my time to think too much about what could have been or should have been, my job is to have an absolute belief in the players and that is what I think the week’s training has started to give me, because I can see a quality and attitude within the squad. When you know where you are at it hones in what is important, which is the club together, players, fans, staff, everybody, giving everything to improve daily and improve game by game, because with the squad we have we can be really competitive this year. It helps me focus and if there’s a blessing in disguise it’s the fact that we don’t have a stressful start of August with the transfer window.”
