Kovacic: Chelsea’s tactical approach will be reminiscent of Lampard’s playing style

Chelsea summer recruit Mateo Kovacic has revealed Frank Lampard is building his tactical philosophy on the playing style he enjoyed during an illustrious playing career.

Lampard took the Stamford Bridge helm earlier this month after his predecessor, Maurizio Sarri, left the club after just one season for Juventus.

Lampard’s tactical blueprint: Five things to know…

• Lampard took to football management last summer after taking over at Derby County.
• He led the Rams to a Championship playoff final appearance but fell short at the final hurdle.
• The former England international drew praise for his aggressive style of play and ambition to blood in young talent.
• As such, Chelsea sought to hire their record goalscorer with a transfer embargo currently hanging over Stamford Bridge.
• Kovacic believes Lampard is moulding his tactical blueprint on the football he enjoyed during his playing career.

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The record goalscorer has already overseen two pre-season matches, including a 1-1 draw with Bohemian and a 4-0 mauling over St Patrick’s Athletic.

In the immediate afterglow of the latter friendly, Lampard outlined a few tactical tweaks he intends to utilise throughout the season, including “in-game” adjustments, but Kovacic has now presented a more transparent picture of what we come to expect from this current Chelsea incarnation.

“I think everybody knows Frank quite well,” said Kovacic, who made his temporary stint from Real Madrid permanent this summer.

“I am getting to know him now and he seems really nice person and he has clear ideas and the team knows what he wants. He wants us to be aggressive, to be an aggressive team and to play good football.

“He wants us to be aggressive, when we have the ball to play quick with the ball, and when we don’t have the ball to recover it fast, it’s his type of play, like he was when he was a player, so he wants it to be like that as a coach as well.”

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Kovacic discusses training methods

The £40.2m Croatian signing further went on to discuss the training methods Lampard has so far employed, believing his sessions are “intense” but ultimately ‘enjoyable’.

He said: “It’s amazing to have a club legend as the coach but it’s also quite tough because training has been intense.

“But the players are enjoying it. I look forward to learning what I can from him.

“I want to make him proud and have a good season.

“We are looking forward to training hard and to having a successful this year under him.”