Frank Lampard rued his side’s defensive errors, as Chelsea lost 3-1 at Everton in Duncan Ferguson’s first match in charge as interim boss. 

Everton had raced into a 2-0 half-time lead, Dominic Calvert-Lewin taking advantage of some poor Chelsea defending for the second, before a long range Mateo Kovacic strike pulled the Blues back into contention. 

However, more calamitous defending from Lampard’s young side saw Theo Walcott gobble up Kepa Arrizabalaga’s weak clearance, before Calvert-Lewin squeezed the ball through the Chelsea keeper’s legs. 

Speaking to ​beIN Sport after the game, the disappointed Chelsea manager discussed his side’s defensive errors, lack of physicality and resistance to shoot from range during their ​3-1 defeat.

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Lampard on Losing the Physical Battle

“They were physical and pretty direct in the manner of their play and that’s something we have to deal with and we didn’t, we didn’t deal with physical contact well enough.​

“At Goodison always as a player I felt the physical nature of the game and the intensity of the crowd were a big factor, so the players were well aware of that, but it’s one thing to be aware and another thing to deal with it and we didn’t deal with it in critical moments.”

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Lampard on Defensive Errors

“We have to defend better than what we did…you can’t win football matches when you make mistakes like that.”​

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Lampard on the Overall Performance

“We had loads of the ball arrived in the box and in and around their box loads of times but didn’t get enough clear cut chances or take enough shots on.

“We controlled the game but we lost 3-1 and that’s the nature of football.”​

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Lampard on Improving Going Forward

“The players have to learn because we’re in fourth position, a lot of us would have been maybe happy with that at the start of the season but we have to want more. 

“Today’s performance is a good example of how far we have to go.”

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