03 May 2023 , 08:11
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A frustrated Frank Lampard has attributed a large portion of the blame for Chelsea's problems to the people "behind the scenes" after the Blues fell to a sixth successive defeat against Arsenal.
Lampard, who has been in charge since the start of last month, could only watch on in anguish at the Emirates as the Gunners surged into a three goal lead courtesy of a Martin Odegaard brace and Gabriel Jesus. Noni Madueke reduced the arrears after the break, but the Blues still finished on the wrong end of a 3-1 defeat.
The result leaves Chelsea in 12th in the Premier League standings, but they could drop down to 13th if they lose against a reinvigorated Bournemouth side at the weekend.
Despite another poor performance, Lampard - who has now lost all of his matches since returning to the dugout - defended the Chelsea players after the match - but he was less complimentary about Todd Boehly and the Blues hierarchy.
“Chelsea has been a big success for 20 years but at the moment we aren’t in that position,” Lampard told Sky Sports. “In the time I’ve been here it’s clear to see behind the scenes, on the training ground, the reasons why. If you’re going to be a nice team to play against all the time it doesn’t matter where you go. That won’t change overnight but we better get there quickly.
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“The passive nature of our game you could attribute to many things. The players certainly care. They are low on confidence, but when you play for Chelsea you have to play a certain way even if you are low on confidence.
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Frank Lampard took aim at the Chelsea hierarchy after the Blues were beaten 3-1 by Arsenal (Sky Sports)“Whatever it is, it maybe doesn’t even matter because the only thing that will get you out of it is understanding and working hard. The gap was the other way around for many years.”
After drafting in Lampard as caretaker manager until the end of the season, Boehly and co have been working hard behind the scenes to identify the next Chelsea head coach.
Former Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino has emerged as the frontrunner for the Stamford Bridge vacancy after holding positive talks with Boehly and the Chelsea board, however, the highly-rated Argentine is unlikely to take charge until the summer - even if an announcement confirming his appointment is made in the coming days.
Pochettino's imminent arrival was given the seal of approval by former Arsenal and Chelsea midfielder Cesc Fabregas, who was analysing Tuesday's game for Sky. When he was asked if he was on board with the idea of Pochettino taking charge, the former Spain international replied: “I think so. As you mentioned he had a really good experience with Spurs, developing young players and he took them to a really good level. So why not? It’s just about getting the right person, which is the difficult thing.”