Frank Lampard finally delivered his first win of the season as Chelsea manager, but he has admitted that there is still plenty of work to be done
Conor Gallagher had given Chelsea the lead after just nine minutes, but Matias Vina levelled things for the home side before the break.
“I’m happy. We came in off the back of a tough run, it’s been a tough year and there is a lot work to do,” Lampard told BBC after the match.
“But the performance and the result in isolation are really good, we deserved to win the game. It’s a nice step forward for the lads. To work hard and come to a place that has been very hard for a lot of teams this year… I’m very happy.”
Lampard made five changes to the starting 11 from their last game against Arsenal. In the end, Chelsea’s fresh legs managed to get them over the line.
“In the modern game, those changes are huge,” Lampard added. “It’s important with the squad that we have that people feel like they can come in and affect the game. We’ve worked towards that and I think every one of them did.
“Joao Felix gets his goal. All involved in the goals and active in the game. That’s the competition you need if you want to compete at the level we want to get to.”
Despite the speculation, the French midfielder put in a battling performance in a more advanced role.
“It’s worked for us a few times,” Lampard explains. “He was fantastic in that area against Real Madrid.
“A lot of people consider him a defensive midfielder because he’s so good at defensive actions. But a lot of his stuff is really front foot and we can be really good higher up the pitch with his actual end product.
“He drives into the box, he’s great. He’s played a few games on the bounce now so we had to take him off for legs but if he’s fit and playing well, you’d have him for every minute of every game.”
“I don’t know why the players can’t grasp it, there are a few younger players we’ve brought in and it doesn’t matter if you’ve won a World Cup, you’re moving to the Premier League. There are a few players finding their feet.
“Typically at Chelsea, one or two have fed into the group and now we have more. It’s understandable that as a group finding rhythm and confidence can be difficult.
“This is a first step, it won’t be plane sailing but there is talent there and the players need to come together to get us to where we want to be.”
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