Frank Lampard admits his Chelsea players are ALREADY suffering from festive fatigue and is not surprised Blues lost second match in a row
- Frank Lampard admits his Chelsea players are already feeling the festive fatigue
- It comes after Lampard watched his team lose in the dying seconds vs Wolves
- Pedro Neto scored a last-gasp winner to complete hosts’ comeback at Molineux
- Lampard concedes his team ‘didn’t have any zip’ about them on Tuesday evening
- It’s the Blues’ second defeat in the space of four days and miss out on top spot
Chelsea manager Frank Lampard admitted on Tuesday night that his side have ‘a lot of improving to do’ and that their defeat at Wolves did not surprise him.
Lampard’s side were considered early title-contenders after a 17-game unbeaten run, but Pedro Neto’s 95th-minute winner consigned them to their first back-to-back losses of the season, following the weekend defeat by Everton.
Asked if this was only a blip, Lampard said: ‘Well, that’s up to us isn’t it? Everyone sang our praises and I was the last one to do that as it is my job to stay level-headed at both ends.
Frank Lampard has admitted that his Chelsea players are already feeling the festive fatigue
‘Clearly, when we perform like we did today, that’s not game management and quality levels that we are striving for. I still think there’s a lot of improving to do within the group so I wouldn’t say I am massively surprised.
‘My experience of the Premier League tells me that if you drop your standards, which we have in the last two games, particularly away from home, then you can lose football matches. It is a big lesson for the players there.’
Though Olivier Giroud put Chelsea ahead, the strike was his side’s first on target and they rarely threatened before twice succumbing to Wolves counter-attacks.
Lampard said: ‘The threat from Wolves is clearly the counter-attack because they have speed in forward areas. The players knew it before the game. If you allow a team to play to their strengths, then you may lose that game.’
It comes after Lampard watched his Chelsea side lose in the dying seconds against Wolves
Chelsea struggled to deal with an energetic Wolves attack in the second-half of their clash
The defeat leaves Chelsea fifth and gives the top four the chance to open a lead on them. The winner came when Chelsea pushed forward, leaving vast space for Neto to exploit.
‘We had players to deal with it but we weren’t prepared to counter-press if the ball got ahead of their box,’ Lampard said.
He was reluctant to suggest that fatigue was playing its part. ‘There could be some fatigue,’ he reflected. ‘It could sound like an excuse, but even the first 60 minutes when we were the better team, we didn’t have a zip about us.’
Wolves manager Nuno Espirito Santo said: ‘We reacted well to their goal. We were always in the game and organised — we played really good football in the second half. After the Chelsea goal, we believed the game was there to win.
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