You’ll never guess what Lampard thinks is key to Man Utd success under Erik ten Hag

Frank Lampard believes the key to Manchester United’s improvement under Erik ten Hag is their grasp of the “basics”, because of course it is – the guy’s f***ing obsessed.

Manchester United spanked Chelsea 4-1 on Thursday night to secure their place in the Champions League, as Frank Lampard was condemned to his seventh defeat in nine games in interim charge of the Blues.

Ten Hag could end the season with two trophies as well as Champions League qualification, with the League Cup already secured and the FA Cup final against Manchester City on the horizon.

But the improvement has nothing to do with tactics, selection, or any of the other keys to management according to Lamps, who continues to bang on about the “basics”.

“I think it is really hard to compare, really tough, it is not for me to analyse where Manchester United are and where they were,” he said when asked whether the next Chelsea boss could take inspiration from the turnaround Ten Hag has overseen at United.

“They have got fantastic players, [Marcus] Rashford scored 30 goals, [Raphael] Varane, [Bruno] Fernandes, bring Casemiro in. There are a lot of factors so you be optimistic. We should look for plusses but I don’t think it is one to compare because every situation is different and we have to go step by step to look at the big picture.

“I am not taking anything away from the job Erik has done but there has to be basics, there has to be fundamentals. I remember when Ten Hag first came people were talking about discipline and fines and setting the standard. Those things are where this club has had a positive upturn.”

Before that, analysing Chelsea’s display, , which is quite an extraordinary claim from an actual football manager.

“It’s a simple thing to say but any team that wins in the Premier League has them [standards] as a base, because without them the tactics do not matter,” Lampard told Sky Sports.

“Training well every day, trying to improve, being a real collective unit.

“There are some variables for the players, everyone talks about a big squad and I understand that it’s hard for the coaches this year at the club – I get it because I’ve lived that for nine league games now.

“Sometimes you can say that is maybe a factor – if you want to call it an excuse – but as a player you have to put that to the side and focus on your own game.

“It’s not just finger-pointing at the players because it’s definitely not a lack of effort this evening, but you build up the credit through your training and your prep, and you build up a resilience.

“I was fortunate enough to be a player here for many years and you can look at the group and the player next to you and know that he’s worked on his standards and everything is there to rely on each other.

“It’s a bad year for the club, and many clubs have these years when we’ve had massive success for the last 20 years or whatever, but the important thing is you get to the bottom of how it improves.

“It needs a reboot, the club will move on in summer in terms of what the squad looks like, and as a Chelsea player where we want to be, everything has to be improved to get to the level.”