Following Saturday’s 2-2 draw with Nottingham Forest at Stamford Bridge, Frank Lampard contrasted his degree of pleasure with each half of the game, focusing on one player from his attack and one from his defensive.’
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After falling behind early in the game, the Blues rallied, with Raheem Sterling scoring twice after the break. The second goal was a genuine highlight, but Forest leveled only four minutes later and held on for a point in their first league visit to Stamford Bridge since 1998, despite plenty of Chelsea attacks.
Sterling’s goals were his first since we defeated Borussia Dortmund in March, and they tie him for the team lead in goals this season.
‘Small gains, small strides forward are vital, and Raheem is a guy who has credit in the bank as a regular goal scorer in the Premier League and for his nation,’ Lampard said.
‘WE CAN ONLY LOOK AT OURSELVES’ VIDEO Frank Lampard reacts at Stamford Bridge to Chelsea’s 2-2 Premier League tie with Nottingham Forest.
‘To see him score there was like Raheem – coming for a cross and then scoring the second goal with individual brilliance. So I am extremely happy for him, and it is what we need throughout the top of the pitch. ‘Raheem has done it, and he has done it again, but if you are going to win games with 76% possession, you need to be killers at the top of the pitch. Raheem has demonstrated this. We don’t have enough of it right now.’
Trevoh Chalobah was the other player that received special attention in our caretaker manager’s post-match review.
‘Trevoh had an excellent game,’ Lampard said. ‘He was excellent when you asked him to do things. He executes them flawlessly, steps in quickly, and defends them effectively. Physically, he is fantastic.’
Turning his attention to the overall team performance, Lampard discussed the game plan before the game and how closely his players followed it. This was the point at which the performance before and after the break differed.
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We knew we’d have a lot of ball in their half, so we had to be dynamic to move their back-five, and we had to make sure our counter-press situations were good, which they were. But what disappointed me was that we didn’t play with enough urgency in the first half to break the back-five.’We were safe, sideways, and scored in the second half when we underlapped. We got the other goal because we ran forward with urgency.’We lost 45 minutes of the game when we had complete control and were not performing the things we promised before the game. It is not enough to play at 60% to 70% in the last third; it must be 100% and repeat.’When we displayed portions of it in our game in the second half, it looked different; it is a game that you want to come and watch. In the final part of the game, you must be fast.’
