“Ridiculous” – Frank Lampard unhappy with defence after Everton 3-1 Chelsea

Chelsea manager Frank Lampard has criticised his players for their defending in a 3-1 defeat to Everton on Saturday afternoon.

The Blues went into the game as favourites, sitting in fourth placed while the Toffees languished in 18th and sacked manager Marco Silva on Thursday.

But the Toffees were buoyant under the influence of interim boss Duncan Ferguson and raced into an early lead thanks to Richarlison.

Chelsea’s defending v Everton “ridiculous”? Five things to know…

• Chelsea were beaten 3-1 by Everton on Saturday afternoon.
• The Blues’ defending for Everton’s second and third goals was criticised.
• Frank Lampard called it ‘ridiculous’.
• Chelsea have conceded 24 goals in 16 Premier League games so far.
• The Blues have lost three of their past four Premier League games.

Dominic Calvert-Lewin doubled Everton’s advantage just after half-time and completed the win late on, Mateo Kovacic grabbing a goal back for Chelsea in between.

Although Everton were deserving of their win, and praise had been given to Ferguson for the impact, there was an inquest into Chelsea’s defending for both of Calvert-Lewin’s goals.

For the first, Calvert-Lewin managed to challenge both Kurt Zouma and Andreas Christensen for the ball when it was bouncing on the edge of the Chelsea area before calmly finishing. And he then capitalised on sloppy defending to score through Kepa Arrizabalaga’s legs after Chelsea had struggled to deal with Tom Davies.

Lampard, whose Chelsea side have kept just three clean sheets in 16 games so far, lamented sloppy defending.

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“All the goals were sloppy,” he said.

“The first goal was something we were aware of, Richarlison in the air in the box, and then the other two were just really poor defending from us.

“We were looking like getting back in the game at 2-1 and we can’t give away a goal like the third, it was ridiculous.

“I think in work-rate we generally match up but in moments of physical contact, they were direct, that is understandable, and we have to deal with that.

“We did not deal with it well enough.”

As a result of their defeat, Chelsea have seen their hold on fourth place slightly shorten with just five points between them and Manchester United.

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‘Work is needed to get Chelsea on track’

The defeat to Everton was Chelsea’s third in four Premier League games, having previously won six in a row.

Chelsea’s poor run started with a 2-1 defeat against Manchester City despite taking the lead before West Ham United won 1-0 at Stamford Bridge. Fortunes were changed with a hard-fought 2-1 win over Aston Villa in midweek but the Everton performance brought the Blues back down to earth.

And Lampard has admitted his side have learned big lessons in their recent defeats.

He added: “We had it nice, we were winning games but this is the Premier League and we went to City and played pretty well and lost the game but the two defeats since then are signs of where we need to get better, because we played two teams that have been having a tough time and we have allowed the games to go away from us for different reasons, and they are big lessons for us.”

Chelsea next play Bournemouth in the Premier League at Stamford Bridge while Man United host Everton.