The first major task for Mauricio Pochettino at Chelsea is to repair the squad’s “spirit and togetherness”, according to Frank Lampard.
The ex-Stamford Bridge manager has mentioned a bloated squad and a season that fizzled out as major drags on motivation at the club in the last year.
The 45-year-old Lampard, who took over as interim manager after Graham Potter was fired in April, believes that his lack of success was down to an attitude that existed prior to he arrived.
Pochettino has started a significant team cut and rebuild after being named permanent head coach.
Lampard maintains he knew the club was in jeopardy despite having a £660m squad from training levels.
Frank Lampard tells Mauricio Pochettino his first Chelsea task after taking Blues job | @SimonBird_ https://t.co/3jAVSugbUa
— Mirror Football (@MirrorFootball) July 13, 2023
What Frank Lampard Said About Chelsea
Speaking to Dragons Den star Steven Bartlett on the CEO podcast, Lampard said: “When I got there I could see the team spirit and the togetherness was not there. It was nothing bad, but you have to train elite to be elite.
“The minute we didn’t get through against Real, you’re in that end of season zone that is not the norm at Chelsea. At Chelsea, we should be playing for something.
“We played for not so much, another reason why motivation came down.
“The biggest thing about the standards thing was the size of the squad and the motivation of players that you’re not going to play. In football, that’s a challenge with 20 players, which is a modern squad.
“But Chelsea’s got very big, to the point that I can say, and I’m not criticising that player for dropping standards but I want to try and get something out of him.
“I would try but when you kind of look at it you go, ‘Yeah but he’s had this for a long time where he’s not playing so he’s not being competitive with that player who is playing, so that player is pretty comfortable too because he’s not pushing him.’
“I could see in training the level wasn’t enough. It wasn’t enough to get a result at Brentford at home or whatever, let alone Real Madrid.
“When I came in, I noticed very quickly that some players were thinking the season was going to peter out and what the future would look like for them.
“If I’m a player that’s not been playing for seven months and think I might be leaving in four weeks’ time, I’m probably going to struggle to motivate that player. I haven’t got a magic wand to motivate them.
“When you have international players in a big number, you’re telling internationals they have to stay at home. It’s not easy.”
What Else Did Lampard Say?
Lampard spared Chelsea’s new owner Todd Boehly from criticism, despite a campaign that had four managers and a bottom half finish.
“Their intentions are certainly good. I know that. I had a good relationship with them Their intentions to do a good job are amazing, they want to take the club and be the best. They have great intentions.
“They’ve spent the money because they want to do well. If they’re going to address the situation, that is their strategy going forward, but I do think you will see players like Fernandez, Mudryk and Noni Madueke develop and they’re going to be big players for the club.’
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Lampard’s woeful record in that spell, one win in 11 games and eight defeats, may have damaged his stock as he searches for a new job.
However, he added: “I don’t have a regret about doing it. If people want to criticise or have a view over my six or seven weeks work, I’ve got no problem with that.
“It wasn’t my most favourite experience in my career but it was an experience and I have learnt from it.”
