Barkely Urged To Take Risks

Ross Barkley says he has been told to take risks and chip in with more goals by his new Chelsea manager Frank Lampard. With Eden Hazard moving on to pastures new with Real Madrid this summer, Barkley could find himself playing in the number 10 role more often this season.

Barkley, who scored a fine free-kick in the 4-3 pre-season win over Reading this week, has spoken of the influence of the new manager and says Lampard wants his side to play without fear. “There is a new manager and new formations,” Barkley told the club’s official website.

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“You have to be adaptable to the different formations we are going to play and I am hungry for goals and have the desire to get into the box and, at the minute, I have been playing a bit further forward to think like a striker, especially a No.10, and to help out defensively and work hard off the ball.

“He [Lampard] will help out all the midfielders. He is a legend of the game and he is the highest scoring midfielder in Premier League history, so we are going to take all he has to give us, his expertise and his playing past, and we are going to take all of that on board.

“He says to express yourself on the pitch, take risks, don’t be too safe, to shoot and to try to take chances, which I can do, and he has brought the work ethic he used to have as a player into the squad now he is a manager, and we have been working really hard.”