Lampard taken off ‘to change structure’

Jose Mourinho explained that he made a tactical decision to take off Frank Lampard at half-time during Chelsea’s 4-0 thrashing of rivals Tottenham.

Lampard did not emerge for the second half and was replaced by Oscar, and the Blues boss said he also wanted protect the player after he picked up a yellow card before the break.

“It was because he got a yellow card in a game with a lot of transitions in the midfield, which is dangerous,” Mourinho said.

“I also wanted to change the structure. I wanted to play with someone behind the attacking players instead of an open triangle.

“So it was an easy to make decision to make. It was part tactical and part to protect him after the yellow card.

“In the second half we changed our structure and the game was much more connected. The difference between our defenders and attackers was much smaller, with Oscar filling the space.

“After the first goal, no story, we had complete control. It was easy; easy to pass, easy to control, easy for our supporters to enjoy and easy for me to be calm.”

Mourinho also confirmed that striker Fernando Torres picked up a groin problem in the warm-up which meant he had to be replaced by Samuel Eto’o, who scored Chelsea’s first goal.

“It is a muscular problem. He was feeling something in his groin in the warm-up,” the Portuguese explained.

“I am surprised, because he did not go on international duty, but sometimes these things can happen.”

Follow West London Sport on Twitter
Find us on Facebook