Frank Lampard admits Chelsea players are ‘low on confidence and low on performance’ after five straight defeats

Frank Lampard admits that his Chelsea squad is “low on confidence and low on performance” after suffering five successive defeats.

Testing campaign at Stamford Bridge
Stuck in bottom half of the table
Interim boss struggling to find a spark

WHAT HAPPENED? The Blues have struggled to build confidence and momentum all season, with inconsistency on the field and in transfer recruitment plans resulting in the club slipping into the bottom-half of the Premier League table and onto their third manager of the campaign. Lampard was supposed to help steady that ship after being appointed as interim boss, but he has seen an expensively-assembled side come unstuck against Real Madrid on two occasions in the Champions League during his second spell in charge at Stamford Bridge, as well as taking nothing from domestic clashes with Wolves, Brighton and Brentford.

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WHAT THEY SAID: Things are not about to get any easier for the Blues, as they prepare to face Arsenal at Emirates Stadium on Tuesday, with Lampard telling reporters when asked about the mood in his camp: “They're low on confidence and low on performance. I've been here in periods where confidence is low. In history we managed to get it back through hard work, level of the squad, we changed managers a lot. It's different now in terms of the modern player and what expectations are. You shouldn't be talking about team confidence but it's clearly an issue at the minute.”

THE BIGGER PICTURE: While finding the going tough at present, Lampard insists that he is delighted to be back in west London and believes he can help to turn collective fortunes around. He added: “Absolutely. I came in with my eyes wide open. We're trying to bring back good feeling. I'm very proud to manage the club and I enjoy doing my job. Reality of football is your career won't be full of successes. You can't always control results but you can control the work.”

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