Chelsea manager Frank Lampard admits getting Mateo Kovacic among the goals is one of his ‘projects’ at Chelsea following the club’s draw against Valencia in the Champions League.
Kovacic was on target on Wednesday night as Chelsea settled for a 2-2 draw with Valencia in a Champions League encounter. The Croatian broke his Blues duck on his 71st club appearance as he leveled the scores when his side was trailing and could even have had a brace in Spain, only for Jasper Cillessen to deny the in-form Blues creator another goal. Kovacic ended a run of 145 appearances without a goal for club & country, dating back to Jan 2017.
The Croatian himself jokingly admitted on social media after the game that he ‘almost gave up’ on scoring a goal.
Lampard has insisted that Kovacic can be more of a threat in the box with the talent he possesses.
We’ve had a lot of jokes between me and him, and the whole squad and him, because he’s a player of such quality that should score more goals,’ said Lampard.
‘It’s a project for me, for him and for the whole staff to get him more goals, and he could have scored two.
‘I’m delighted for him and I hope that’s the start of something new.’
Kovacic was often criticized last season after his performances under former manager Maurizio Sarri and he would often be replaced in the second half by Ross Barkley which was a running joke around Stamford Bridge.
In total during his only season in charge, Maurizio Sarri swapped the two central midfielders 22 times.
But the Croatian has been reborn this season under Frank Lampard and will be determined to get on the scoresheet more often which is seen as the thing missing from his game.
