Frank Lampard has revealed the ‘biggest’ cause of the ‘low standards’ at Chelsea in his disastrous spell as interim manager last season.
The Blues managed just one win in 11 games after Lampard returned to the Stamford Bridge hotseat in April, following the sacking of Graham Potter, as Chelsea finished 12th in the Premier League.
Much was made of the poor atmosphere at the club before and during Lampard’s spell, with reports claiming players were discussing their plans to leave in training and ignored the managers’ pleas for focus and commitment.
In a discussion with Steven Bartlett on his Diary of a CEO podcast, Lampard insisted he had no regrets over his return to Stamford Bridge, and explained why it was so difficult to motivate the players.
He said: “The biggest thing about the low standards was the size of the squad. The motivation was tough with players outside the Champions League squad.
“In football, it is a challenge even with 20 or so players. Chelsea’s squad was so big that I couldn’t criticise individual players for dropping standards.
“I think that’s understood now [by the owners]. You see that in six, seven or eight players leaving. The intentions were certainly good.
“They haven’t signed bad players. The idea of signing them all at the same time maybe looks a bit excitable but there is a long game and plan.”
Lampard also revealed that he urged the club to sign Declan Rice, who was in the Blues academy before he was released at 14 and is on the verge of a £100m move to Arsenal, claiming he believed he could be their captain “for the next ten years”.
He added: “I wanted to bring in Declan Rice. I was like ‘this kid is going to be the captain of Chelsea for the next 10 years’. It didn’t happen, anyway, it is hard to dissect people’s work.”
The Chelsea legend also opened up on Mason Mount’s move to Manchester United, claiming he will “raise levels” at Old Trafford.
Lampard said: “I think it’s a great signing. What I would say about Mason is, you talk about modern players and how the game’s changed, he is a throwback to the attitude and the commitment, and the quality.
“That was the beauty of working with Mason, he gave you so much in terms of his effort every day, anything you’d ask him to do, yeah, he kind of got it.
“I think any great player has to have that kind of intelligence and that desire about them. Like, ‘what do you need me to do?’, yeah, I’ve got it, I’ll do it and I’ll repeat it, and also quality.
“So in terms of what he’ll bring to Manchester United, it won’t just be what Mason brings, he will bring loads of talent, but he’s just going to go [up] and [raise] levels.”
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