Lampard on injury news, Gilmour, Giroud’s future, Ancelotti and coronavirus
Frank Lampard spoke about a number of issues at a news conference ahead of Chelsea’s game against Everton. Here’s some of what the Blues boss had to say.
On the reception Everton’s former Chelsea boss Carlo Ancelotti will get
“A very good one. He’s very well respected in-house and by the fans. We all respect his time at the club.
“He’s a gentleman, a fantastic manager and I loved working with him. I think he’ll get a great reception.
“He was a great man manager – on a personal level he was great at striking up relationships with players.
“He’s obviously very good tactically, very calm – never too high and never too low – and someone I enjoyed working with. I’ve got huge respect for him.”
On the possibility of matches being played behind closed doors because of coronavirus
“It wouldn’t affect anything in terms of preparation – you would take on the opposition in front of you.
“It would affect the atmosphere, clearly. We’ll have to see. It obviously takes away a lot from a game when you don’t have fans in the stadium.
“But there are some things more important. And if that’s the path chosen by the authorities then you would go with that.
“We’re not shaking hands and are following the protocol that’s recommended. We’re doing everything we can with our ears open as things change.”
On Christian Pulisic and Ruben Loftus-Cheek
“We just had an in-house game, which Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Christian Pulisic took part in.
“It’s great to see Christian get some minutes. He’ll still short of match fitness but it’s the first time the injury has felt to a level where we could actually get him on a big pitch and a relatively competitive match.
“Ruben played half of that game and is trying to find match fitness. He’s short of that – Ruben’s saying that himself and I can see that, so there’s work to be done with Ruben.”
On Callum Hudson-Odoi
“He had a re-injury yesterday. We’re having a scan on him this afternoon, so he’ll be (out) longer than expected.
“It’s tough. He wasn’t rushed back. The signs were that he was fit to train – clearly we do that (assess a player’s fitness) with every player – and he re-injured in his first session with us.
“It’s frustrating for him, definitely – a young boy so keen to play, as you’d expect, and frustrating because it’s another injury for us.
“It hasn’t been spoken about that much – we’ve had probably the worst injury list of certainly the top group of the table.
“Lots of numbers injured and important players like Kante, Ruben Loftus-Cheek etc. It started the season that way and it’s happened again in the middle of the season.
“So we’re working against that to try and get the best results.”
On Mateo Kovacic and Willian
“Kovacic isn’t fit. His Achilles injury will take him out of the weekend and hopefully not long after that.
“Willian, we’re assessing. He’s a question mark for Sunday.”
On Olivier Giroud suggesting he wants to stay
“I keep saying the same with every player: the destiny is in their own hands to whatever degree depending on contractual situations.
“I’m not jumping ahead to the summer on any player. We’ve got a big job in front of us now to try and do as well as we can in the league, FA Cup, Champions League when we travel to Bayern Munich to play with pride for the club, and that’s all.”
On how Billy Gilmour has been since his display against Liverpool
“He’s been the same. I’m sure he enjoyed it – he should do, his family were here for the game.
“Knowing Billy, even at a young age he’s a very determined young lad. I think he’s very smart and I think he’ll understand that it was a really good game for him but the hard work starts now.
“I think he should enjoy the moment. I’m delighted for him. But in terms of how I’ve seen him around the place: same attitude, same training, same ethic, same quality. So all good.”
