Frank Lampard claims Chelsea's frantic fixture schedule is damaging his bid to solve his struggling team's problems.
Lampard is in charge at Chelsea until the end of the season
after the Blues legend returned to replace the sacked Graham Potter last week.
But the 44-year-old has had limited time to work with his
players on the training pitch in a period that will see the team play four
times in 11 days.
Lampard worked with the squad for the first time 24 hours
before last Saturday's 1-0 defeat to Wolves, then on Tuesday flew to Spain for
the 2-0 loss at Real Madrid in the Champions League quarter-final first leg.
Chelsea returned in the early hours of Thursday, and on
Saturday face Brighton at Stamford Bridge in the Premier League as they look to
end a run of four games without a goal.
The west Londoners' longest scoreless run since 1993 has
underlined the problems facing Lampard, but he insists goalscoring woes can
only be resolved through application in training.
"I understood the problem before I came. Trying to
address it is our job of course. There's been a lot of talk about belief, I've
said that word a lot myself," Lampard told reporters on Friday.
"The reality is it's work, and to replicate on the
training pitch. To have enough urgency in our attacking game that we have
numbers in and around the box, and an idea of how we want to attack.
"In a tight turnaround, the work on the training pitch
is not there. You can't work the players physically when you play three games
in six days.
"We'll communicate what it means to play for Chelsea to
the new players and work towards it. It won't be an overnight process, because
of the lack of training time.
"As much as you can have good meetings and an idea,
there's nothing better than repeating movements that you want on the
pitch."
Pierre Emerick-Aubameyang could be a solution to Chelsea's
goal issues after the Gabon forward came on against Wolves after being largely
frozen out by Potter.
"Auba is a bit like everybody in the squad now, whether
you have been starting before or not starting so much, everyone now needs to
compete in training to show that you are worthy of a place," Lampard said.
"Of course history says he has a fantastic goalscoring
record so we'll see."
Adding to the difficulties facing Lampard in his second
spell as Chelsea boss, the former England star confirmed the injury sustained
by Senegal centre-back Kalidou Koulibaly at Real will keep him out for
"weeks, not days". -
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