Frank Lampard has said his side must stay grounded despite their impressive demolition over Everton in 4-0 win at Stamford Bridge.
The Chelsea manager told the club website he was impressed with his side’s performance before insisting that they must remain grounded.
Lampard continued as he hailed the ‘selfless’ Olivier Giroud, the performances of Ross Barkley and Marcos Alonso.
The 41-year-old persisted by declaring his delight with his squad’s maturity and manner in handling the squad rotation.
Chelsea’s all-time top goal scorer then concluded by assessing Aston Villa and claimed his side must be prepared for battle against a side ‘fighting for their lives’.
Squad depth is paramount
Throughout the course of the season, Lampard has often come under fire due to the rotation of his squad, whether it is from fans or often pundits.
After an impressive victory over Liverpool in the FA Cup, the Blues manager opted to make just one change. However, rightly or wrongly, during the season Lampard has rotated every position which has left players hungry to prove themselves.
He praised the manner in which every player has managed the squad rotation and said everyone’s attitude and focus was ‘really strong’.
“You will always need your squad through the year,” began Lampard. “We have a lot of injuries but the only way to tackle that is to work and fight and play at a high intensity with energy and to trust in each other.
“The whole attitude and focus of the team felt really strong today after the Liverpool win and sometimes I have been searching for why we have played well at home and not scored and there has been something missing. Today there was pure focus within the group.”
‘We must keep our feet on the ground’
Chelsea have now won successive games in all competitions for the first time since early January and now look to push onwards in hope of a strong end to the season.
Lampard was impressed to see that his side not only played well but also scored enough goals to match the performance. A common issue that has not often been the case thus far.
“We have reached levels but today it all came together," he said. “The finishing, the energy in the team, the speed of pass, the getting after the ball and winning it back, and that is a nice little template.
“There is a lot of work to be done and it is even better to say that after a good performance because we need to keep our feet on the ground, but today we saw some really good stuff.
“It is an easy one to analyse on that front but in terms of performance, we have been close to that a lot at Stamford Bridge and I have then sat here and mulled over a 1-0 defeat because we have played some really good stuff at times here, with energy, and we haven’t got the last bit which is the unpredictable bit. The goals that make the performance more comfortable.”
Characters and personalities
Lampard was quick to address the strong characters of Giroud and Kepa Arrizabalaga having both been in and out of the team due to various reasons.
He said: “We had Giroud playing well. He is selfless and then you must have runners and energy around him to make the most of it. And stick balls in the box like we did for his goal. He is a personality and we need that.
‘Kepa has been out of the team and showed character and he has come in for two clean sheets and made saves and had a brave moment at the end of this game.
“Barkley and Alonso have come back in and that is what we need. It does not matter if you are four months from the end of your contract or out the team for a month, you have to train every day full pelt, be a brilliant team-mate and when you come in you have to try to contribute.”
Lampard looks ahead
The Blues face Aston Villa next away at in their next Premier League venture and Lampard is ‘experienced enough’ to know how to approach the game.
“I am experienced enough to know we go to Aston Villa for our next game and they are fighting for their lives," concluded Lampard. “They have good players so we must try to replicate what we showed today.
“We had a good patch early in the season, we have struggled with inconsistency recently, but who hasn’t in this league apart from Liverpool, and in a transitional period, although I don’t accept that, it is understandable.
“So, we have to work as have today to show that we can finish [the season] with strength and get better.”