Olivier Giroud has said that the Frank Lampard era will see Chelsea play with freedom and display a fearless brand of football at Stamford Bridge.
Giroud is now one of the most senior figures in the Chelsea dressing room after David Luiz joined Arsenal on transfer deadline day in an £8 million ($10m) move, leaving just three over-30 outfield players in the side: Giroud, Pedro and Willian.
Lampard has lost his first two games in charge of the Blues but a 2-2 draw in the UEFA Super Cup against Liverpool saw his side just miss out in a penalty shootout, just days after Chelsea fell to a heavy 4-0 defeat to Manchester United in their Premier League opener.
Giroud was disappointed to lose the lottery-like penalties but has no doubts about Chelsea's chances of success this season.
“Lampard always tries to be very positive," Giroud said at the Besiktas Stadium. "He’s not going to be tough with us when we’re not doing well or put us above the mood – if I can say – when we are doing well.
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“He is always trying to analyse the situation and he said he was very proud of our performance after the games. He said it was tough to lose like that, but we need to keep our heads up but, one more time, he said he was proud of us.
“To be honest, it was very painful straight after the game. I’m very disappointed for the team because we showed a great strong team character after the tough result at Old Trafford.
“Everybody said that Liverpool would be the favourites but we played at least as good as them and we created a lot of chances and we felt we had the best chances to score the third goal and win the match.
“It’s very unlucky. I’m not used to saying that in football because it’s never random. We’ve done a very good team performance and I’ve been very proud of the boys."
The French striker also dismissed claims that Chelsea would be badly damaged by the departure of star man Eden Hazard, who joined Real Madrid this summer.
“Even if we lost important players, I feel this squad is very strong in both quality and quantity. I have no worries at all," Giroud said.
"I think we have a super mentality, we are all pointing in the same direction, the same target and I’m pretty sure we can do good things this year. But it’s sad to start the season like that, it’s been quite tough, but we need to recover now and keep our heads up."
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Giroud saw his contract extended this summer as Chelsea exercised an optional extra year on his deal. The 32-year-old will now battle it out with Tammy Abraham, who missed the decisive penalty in the Super Cup final, and Michy Batshuayi for playing time at striker.
The France international has high expectations this season and wants to be a big part of Lampard's squad.
“The most important thing has been to keep the confidence high and obviously being fearless, playing with freedom and that’s what we’ve done.
“We’ve been very strong. I think we can build good things from here. I feel very good right now. I still need more game time because I only played a few 45 minutes in the friendlies, that’s why after 70 minutes I said to the coach: ‘I feel like I can’t help the team anymore.’
"So, it was better that the boys came on and finished the job. I feel very good at Chelsea and I’m very happy and I’m sad after the results, but I have high expectations for the season because we have a very good squad.”