"Chelsea Players Receive Criticism From Frank Lampard Following Tough Loss to Manchester United"
Frank Lampard has criticized Chelsea's squad for their lack of effort in training this season, following their 4-1 defeat against Manchester United on Thursday.
The Blues showed some promise early on in the game but once again, their poor finishing let them down, allowing Erik ten Hag's strong United team to capitalize on their mistakes.
Prior to the match, Lampard acknowledged that Chelsea's overall standards had been declining and he did not hold back when asked to explain his remarks after the game.
'It may seem like a simple thing to say, but any team that wins in the Premier League already has a strong base of standards, because without them, tactics do not matter,' said Lampard.
'Training well every day, striving to improve and being a cohesive unit are the key elements. There are some variables for the players, everyone talks about the large squad and I understand that it's been challenging for our coaches this year. I get it because I've been experiencing that for nine league games now.
'You can say that this may be a factor, if you want to call it an excuse, but as a player, you have to put that aside and concentrate on your own game. Since being here, I've quickly understood that some of the collective standards on an individual level are not where they should be, and this requires some self-reflection. Blaming the players is not the solution, there are numerous reasons why the club is where it's at.'
'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.'
This Premier League season is set to be Chelsea's worst in terms of points tally, with 16 defeats throughout the year, which is also their highest number of losses, and unless they can produce a nine-goal miracle against Newcastle on the final day of the season, they will end the season with their lowest goal tally as well.
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