Frank Lampard has fumed at his Chelsea side for their display in Sunday's 1-0 win over Leicester City. Despite the day's triumph securing a semi-final date with Manchester United, the Blues' boss has branded the performance as the worst he has seen from his players since taking over.
The Blues were made to struggle at the King Power Stadium for the most part of the proceeding and could have been in a complicated situation but for substitute Ross Barkley's 63rd-minute strike. The introduction of the Englishman alongside Cesar Azpilicueta and Mateo Kovavic for Mason Mount, Reece James and Billy Gilmou, seemingly proved beneficial following an underwhelming showing latter trio.
While the club from London have now gone five games without putting a foot wrong, manager Frank Lampard insisted that things could have gone sideways.
Ross Barkley Scoring in the #EmiratesFACup#LEICHE @ChelseaFC pic.twitter.com/96vTISwi2H
— The Emirates FA Cup (@EmiratesFACup) June 28, 2020
"We haven't played this badly since I've managed here," he said in a post-match interview.
"We have played better in games we have lost this season. We were lucky today and it's a wake up call that we can't perform like this again."
“In the first half, we have not played that badly since I have been here this season," he said. "We were fortunate at half-time that they did not take some of their chances.
"That is was 0-0 was the only plus at half-time. I made three subs and could have made seven, eight, nine. I needed a change.
“I could have made different changes as well. In Mason’s situation, he has played two games in a week and gave a lot of input against Manchester City.
"Reece James has not played since lockdown and Billy the same, so there are contributing factors around it. They are going to be top players for this club and are going to have top careers in football.
"Whether you can call it a learning experience . . . it was just a fact of how I saw the game. They can take it on board. They are all good lads, all train well, all have a great ethic and I have no problem with any of them, at all.
"So I have no worries, it was just the circumstances today.”
Scorer of Chelsea's winner Ross Barkley , also revealed in a post-match interview that him and his teammates were told by Lampard that they were not performing well enough to represent the badge.
'[He said we were] not good enough for the Chelsea badge to be performing like that.
'[We needed to] be vocal on the pitch and make things happen,' he told BT Sports.
'We could have done better with the final pass and stuff like that.'
