Chelsea manager Frank Lampard singled out Marcos Alonso and Thiago Silva for their defensive mistakes in Saturday’s 3-3 draw with West Bromwich Albion.
The Blues fought back to earn a point having been 3-0 down at the Hawthorns inside the first 30 minutes.
Alonso was at fault for West Brom’s first with a poor header before Silva allowed the ball to run under his foot with Callum Robinson capitalising on both errors.
The comeback was completed as Tammy Abraham tapped into an empty net ensuring a share of the points
But Lampard was unhappy at the full time whistle following the first half performance from his defence
Lampard told Sky Sports: “It’s two points lost. That’s no disrespect to West Brom, but to come here and understand the game and know transition and mistakes would be something they would jump on, counter-attack against us, and set-pieces
“We spoke about it before the game, you can’t legislate for pure mistakes, but that gives you a really difficult game to get back into.
“I can laud character, because we showed character and persistence, but we wouldn’t need to if we didn’t make those mistakes.
“Mistakes, clear mistakes, the first one Marcos [Alonso] heads it into the middle of the pitch for them, the second one Thiago [Silva] makes a mistake, he’s been around long enough to know that and we’ll give him that one in his first game, but Marcos loses his man for the third too.
“You can do as many meetings as you want, if you make those mistakes you give yourself a mountain to climb.”
Lampard also opened up on Chelsea’s fitness levels following the shortened summer break and pre-season with the likes of Ben Chilwell still to reach 100 per cent.
He added: “We have two big games coming up against Tottenham and Crystal Palace. I expect to see an improvement in our performances.
“But in terms of team fitness, it won’t be until after the international break that I expect to see us up to our real level, especially in terms of on the ball, because we haven’t had time to work on that yet.”
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COMMENTS
Welcome to Premier League Football, Thiago Silva! He laid a huge egg in the middle of the park, resulting in Westbrom’s second goal. Yes, nobody is above mistake, but when a professional footballer of his caliber and experience makes a school boy error like that, tongues are sure to go a-wagging! Huge, huge disappointing debut for Thiago. Poor guy, he would have loved to dig the ground and hide himself, he was so embarrassed! His quality in his prime years is unquestioned. But at 36, the decision to sign him is strange, to say the least. With the break-neck pace of the premier league, you can only expect so much from a 36 yr old. Many footballers retire even before that age!
Lampard may be upset with Alonso and Thiago Silva, but he is also not blameless here. He still has not figured out how to put his players to optimal use, and he’s been in charge for a while now. The first half collapse is ultimately his responsibility to bear.
Beautifully summarised @pompei. In the end, it all comes down to Lampard’s level of coaching experience, his sign-on decisions and how he’s able to maximise the resources at his disposal. We all saw how Jota, Minamino, Shaqiri, Allison etc hit the ground running at Liverpool.
KLopp sure knows who to buy and how best to utilize them. His sign-ons are rarely questionable. His experience will always beat Lampard’s/Ibrahimovic’s or Ole’s money. I hope it’s the Kop’s league again for the next 2 seasons to dwarf Man U again. I hope Ibrahimovic is patient with Lampard. YNWA.
_ Was Lampard to be blamed? _
Pompei, wonderful submission as always which was brilliantly written however I diverge when it comes to blaming Lampard (for this match only).
I have always being of the opinion that players have to stand up and be counted. How do you coach a goalkeeper from conceding the first goal low to Caballero’s right from a save-able shot? Left back Alonso’s hapless header that gifted possession to Wes Brom in the lead up to that goal only sums up how helpless and perhaps blameless coaches can be in such instances.
The second goal was what I put down as an act of Deity as no player is conceivably infallible. Silva’s botched ball control fell kindly to Wes Brom’s predatory striker who raced through to bury the chance with an emphatic finish as Caballero was left counting the cost.
Such blunders just come into sharper focus when they are punished ruthlessly like Wes Brom’s Callum Robinson inflicted on Chelsea (with no mercy).
Vastly experienced Spanish full back Marcus Alonso – whose torrid night was encapsulated by our own Ajayi beating him in a foot race earlier on – should have been protecting his area better for Wes Brom’s 3rd goal as unmarked Bartley sliced home his low drive off an eloquent headed flick-on after a corner kick.
With his team at such a low ebb, Lampard did the only thing any coach could have done in such a scenario: deliver a motivational half time speech to the team and to ring changes.
The changes his made and speech he delivered directly correlated with Chelsea almost snatching victory from the Jaws of defeat but only had to settle for a face-saving 3:3 draw.
The match was a tale of 2 halfs for Chelsea: the 1st in which the team was in disarray, the 2nd in which coach Frank Lampard had to remind his players where they were and why they were there!
Good one from a sane mind! God bless your knowledge sir Deo.
People blaming Lampard for this particular game is laughable and that’s simply an unjust judgement.
Oga Deo, nice submission as always!
I agree with you that Lampard can’t be blamed for the individual errors of players. Lampard is not expected to teach somebody like Thiago Silva how to properly receive a pass, for example. However, as a manager, Lampard is solely responsible for the FORMATION of the team. In a battle, the general is responsible for setting up the battle formation for his troops, and the expectation is that because he has an intimate knowledge of his troops and the battle terrain, he can come up with a strategy that increases the probability of victory. If the formation fails, the general is held responsible. It is the same principle for a football manager. Lampard is paid a lot of money ( what he makes in a week, some people do not make in 2 years) to do the manager job, and that entails having an intimate knowledge of the players, how to best use them, and also the ability to do a SWOT analysis on opponents in order to come up with an optimal match strategy. Lampard is struggling in this regard. His decision making is questionable, and he appears not to have come to grips with the demands of running a club of Chelsea’s magnitude. If given time, he likely will learn on the job, but this is the premier league, and clubs like Chelsea can’t afford to carry a manager who is learning the ropes. They need a manager who will add value to the team and keep them challenging for titles.
Lampard is not responsible for the individual mistakes of his lads, but his formation contributed to the first half collapse. Only Lampard can be blamed for that.
And yes, while the second half revival was commendable, Chelsea were very fortunate. Most teams in the premier league will not throw away a 3-goal lead.
When your formation fails and you go 3 goals behind, that means defeat 90% of the time (just an estimate). Yes, Lampard did a good job of roasting his players at half time and motivating them to do the needful in the second half, but even with all that, they could easily have lost the match. Chelsea can’t afford a manager who is reactionary. The club needs a proactive manager who anticipates problems before the occur, and comes up with solutions. Lampard by now should have several formations to be deployed depending on the opponent, and he should know the players that best fit each formation. If what happened yesterday is a template of what will be happening for the rest of the season, then Chelsea fans are in for a torrid time!
What are you guys talking about the blame should go to lampard solely …how can you set up your team like that …Chelsea is known for 433 formation and he came up with 4231 and destabilise the team and he got what he wanted …under 28 mins we are down with 3 zero …when you have so many talent are your disposal and yet you are still looking how to field them ….I pity him after the club backed him up with some many signings and this is what we will get ……harvetz played in midweek and he was a delights to watch ..in his natural position and yet again you went to draft him in the left wing when Odio is on the bench ….please guys lampard is at fault for this …when a manaager fails to do his job well …he will pay for it ….thank God he corrected him self and switch on to that 433 in the second half and got what he wanted ….later on again switch to 352 formation when he removed Silva and put Geiroud ….
I guess the formation he started with made Alonso gave the ball to his opponent in his own half and in an attacking area abi…..it was also the formation that led to Silva’s error abi
Just explain to us how Lampard formation led to those individual errors