Frank Lampard tells Chelsea to show “more personality” and reverse fast-start trend

Chelsea manager Frank Lampard has called on his players to show “more personality” to maintain their fast starts across the entire match.

The Blues were once again undone by a second-half slump over the weekend as Wilfred Ndidi netted after the interval to cancel out Mason Mount’s early opener in Chelsea 1-1 Leicester City.

Five things to know about Chelsea fast-start trend…

• Despite defeat, Chelsea were praised for their lightning-quick start to the 4-0 loss away to Man Utd.
• Abraham and Emerson both hit the woodwork in the first half while Barkley forced a good save from De Gea.
• Giroud gave Chelsea a first-half lead before Liverpool went on to the win the Uefa Super Cup on penalties.
• Likewise, against Leicester, Chelsea took a first-half lead but came up short after the restart.
• Lampard has now urged his side to maintain the level of intensity shown in the opening exchanges.

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The draw against Leicester dampened the Chelsea legend’s Stamford Bridge homecoming, while he remains in the hunt for a first competitive win in charge of the club.

Much like the Blues’ 4-0 thrashing at the hands of Manchester United on the opening Premier League weekend, Chelsea started brightly but their form fizzled out as the match went on.

Lampard has now urged his players to eradicate this growing trend immediately and show “more personality” to see games through.

He told reporters: “It was a really good start, fantastic, and we could’ve been two or three goals up.

“We were quick, bright, energetic, then we allowed Leicester back in the game and in the second half I was not very happy, we offered them too many chances on the counter-attack.

“We can only look ourselves. In all our matches I have been delighted in big passages of having the ball but we didn’t have enough angles or options to keep the ball moving. We have to have more personality, we saw that in midweek, but today we didn’t have that.

“It’s very early for us. We have to be patient as we are working towards something.

“Two or three nil would have taken the game away from them but we didn’t take those chances. That’s the story of our season so far. We need to be more clinical, for sure. It is defining.”

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“I have absolute faith in Mason Mount”

Addressing other topics in west London, Lampard was also quick to lavish praise on youngster Mount, who opened his Chelsea account at the weekend, while admitting disappointment having lost the Super Cup on Wednesday to Liverpool as he thought his side were “the better team”.

He added: “It is the first of many moments from Mason [Mount]. I have absolute confidence in him.

“This is home for me and I really appreciated the support. It’s my club, I played here so long and I’m slightly disappointed we didn’t get the win but I’m thankful to the fans.

“We have had a tough start – to go to Manchester and get beaten the way we did then lose the Super Cup when I thought we were the better team.”

Chelsea’s next fixture is at home to Norwich City on Saturday morning at 12:30PM, meaning all four competitive games so far with Lampard in charge have been televised.