Frank Lampard has reflected upon Chelsea’s 2-0 defeat to Liverpool after the Blues’ positive performance was overshadowed by three unfortunate lapses of judgement.
Chelsea looked to have made a strong and steady start, competing well with the Premier League champions, before Andreas Christensen was sent off after clumsily dragging down Sadio Mané.
The game looked to be out of the Blues’ reach. Kai Havertz was brought off for Fikayo Tomori who certainly impressed under the circumstances. After a penalty miss by Jorginho and a mistake from Kepa Arrizibalaga, the game was well and truly out of reach.
Amidst a sequence of unfortunate events, Lampard drew plenty of positives from the game.
‘I wanted us to be better’
Lampard claimed he was pleased with his side’s performance, however insisted that he wanted his side to be better.
“There were a lot of things I was happy about with our defensive game,” said Lampard. “I wanted us to be better on the ball. We showed moments on the counterattack where we were dangerous, Timo [Werner] had a couple of good opportunities but to limit them to the chances they got in the first half, there were a lot of things I was pleased about.
“I’m disappointed to lose three points as you always will and should be but I’m actually happier today in many ways than I was at Brighton. I saw spirit, desire to defend by a lot of our defenders – Reece James, Kurt Zouma, Fikayo Tomori when he came on.
"The midfield was giving everything to block gaps and you play half a game with 10 men, you don’t make that mistake for the second goal, you score the penalty - then it’s 1-1.
“I know that’s not football and I can’t reflect on that but those are the realities. The players should take heart, it’s how we go forward from here now.”
The Kepa situation…
After an ongoing spell under the microscope, Kepa was once again on the tip of every Chelsea fans’ tongue. Not for the right reason though. Again.
Lampard addressed the Spaniard’s performance claiming his mistake cost his side the game.
“My job is to try and give him confidence because a goalkeeper absolutely relies on confidence. It’s a clear mistake that’s cost us and Kepa has accepted that as he should do - he holds his hands up.
"We have to be a group and accept that with joint responsibility because these things do happen but it’s obviously a clear mistake. He has to keep working and have support around him.
“I can say now that Willy Caballero will play and that was always my feeling to play him in the game on Wednesday [against Barnsley in the Carabao Cup] regardless of today so I don’t want people to make judgements on that.”