In his first season as manager of Chelsea, Frank Lampard will surely have won a lot of plaudits for the way in which he has brought through some young players and introduced a much more dynamic style to that which supporters of the club were getting used to under Mauricio Sarri.
However, it doesn’t appear that the former England international is completely happy with both his own performance and that of his squad.
“Mixed places, I am always the first to criticise myself, to look at what we could have done better,” he said in an interview with Sky Sports News, detailed by the Daily Mail.
“[…] I am pretty happy with where we are in fourth position […] but it’s more how can we progress from here. We have youth, we have been searching for consistency, but I want a lot more. Reflection time, for the staff as well, has been good. How can we get more out of us?”
In fourth place at the time of writing, the Blues nevertheless remain a cavernous 34 points behind leaders, Liverpool. Though the Reds are at a completely different stage of development, it seems fairly clear from Lampard’s words that his aspirations lie a lot higher than fourth in the Premier League table.
To that end, the Reds are the current benchmark, and their level of play and consistency allows Chelsea’s players to understand how much harder they need to work if they want trophies to show for their own efforts.