Jurgen Klopp: Frank Lampard’s Chelsea play “proper football”

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has highlighted Frank Lampard’s transformative season at Derby County as reason for Chelsea fans to be optimistic about the future.

Lampard oversaw a 4-0 defeat to Manchester United on his first competitive match in charge of the Blues, but will have the opportunity to bounce back straight away when his side take on Liverpool in the Super Cup on Wednesday.

Lampard’s Chelsea start: Five things to know…

• Lampard took charge of his first competitive Chelsea match on Sunday at Old Trafford.
• The Blues were thrashed 4-0 in their Premier League opener against the Red Devils.
• Goals from Marcus Rashford, Anthony Martial and Daniel James ensured a opening day defeat for the former England international.
• Many pundits criticised Lampard after the match for fielding an inexperienced XI.
• However, Klopp has praised Chelsea’s youngsters and lauded Lampard’s style of play.

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In the immediate afterglow of Chelsea’s trouncing, fans and pundits were quick to criticise Lampard for leaving the likes of N’Golo Kante, Marcos Alonso and Olivier Giroud on the bench.

However, the former England international has wasted no time defending his tactics, suggesting Mason Mount and Tammy Abraham deserved to be starting at the weekend, a point now echoed by Klopp.

Speaking ahead of Liverpool’s clash with Chelsea in Istanbul, the German said: “They have a clear way of playing, it’s a football-playing side, it’s flexible, they have different formations and stuff like this and I like what I saw to be honest, but yeah, they lost 4-0 – that’s then a really hard lesson.

“We don’t have lesser respect because they lost 4-0 against Man United. No, it’s the other way around – especially in the first 60 minutes they were just really good.

“[They are] a good football team and we use three games and try to make the right conclusion of that and do the right things in the game.

“Mason Mount is a really wonderful talent who plays a really important role already.

“I think Frank showed last year with Derby that he’s a very, very, very good manager because he changed Derby pretty much overnight.

“So, proper football, really high intensity, all that stuff, it’s all there, what you need.”

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Klopp relishing Super Cup final

While many may see Wednesday’s Uefa Super Cup as a hindrance to early season preparations, Klopp has spoken of his desire to clinch yet more silverware.

He added: “It’s a final, both deserve to be there and both, for sure, want to win it desperately and I think that’s a big part of the game plan as well because you have to be lively, but you have to be calm as well. All these things, we have to see who can do them better.

“How I said, both teams are early in the season, it’s not that we are both the finished article yet but both in a good way, I would say.

“Let’s play the game and talk about it afterwards.”