Lampard faces ‘reality’ after another Chelsea defeat

Frank Lampard says he always anticipated a dip in form by his young side, who have now lost four of their past five Premier League games following the 1-0 home defeat against Bournemouth.

The lowly Cherries scored a VAR-awarded goal inside the final six minutes and held on with relative comfort to end a run of five consecutive defeats.

Lampard’s side have now suffered back-to-back 1-0 home losses and have already been beaten three times at Stamford Bridge in the league this season.

He said he was always “guarded” against getting too carried away as their early season-form took them as high as second in the table.

“Now we have the reality,” Lampard added.

“If we are not at our best and haven’t got enough to break teams down that are organised. If players, with their individual quality and personality cannot break teams down then we have to find another way. That’s the test.

“Forget Man City game [2-1 loss]; we played well and lost. But against West Ham, who were organised and wanted to stop us playing, against Everton, organised and wanted to stop us playing, and Bournemouth, particularly organised and deep and wanted to stop us playing, we have to find another way – and we haven’t managed to do that.

“That brings nerves and stress in the stadium and in the team and we haven’t dealt with that.”

He said the Blues need “urgency” in their play.

“If you are transferring the ball, do it quickly from side to side. If you are playing through the lines, get it through the lines. And if you are an attacking player, get at people and do things that are positive and don’t play play safe. We played too safe through the game.”

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