Chelsea’s Cesar Azpilicueta and Frank Lampard were forced to lament over the defensive issues of the London club ahead of their UEFA Champions League match against Sevilla on Tuesday, October 20, at 20:00.
Azpilicueta who is the club’s captain and Lampard the football manager of the club are always questioned about the state of the club’s defense even before the club spent over £220 million on recruitment this summer.
After spending so much on recruitment, the club is still battling to be sound defensively. So far in the 2020-2021 season, Frank Lampard has managed five Premier League matches as Chelsea’s coach. In those matches, the club scored 13 goals and unfortunately for the English tactician, the club’s defense has conceded 9 goals.
There have been many cases Chelsea had the chance to win a game, but defensive or goalkeeping errors forced the club to record a draw. The most recent of such a calamity was Chelsea’s Premier League match against Southampton on October 17 where the club was leading 3-2 until the 2nd additional minute when the club’s defense broke down to allow Southampton to score the equalizer.
“I’m aware of the stats and the other stat is we’ve conceded second-fewest shots”, Frank Lampard said.
“It helps to narrow down the issue. It’s something we’re aware of with recruitment and on the pitch with the players to make sure we set up well. We want to concede less, as do all teams at the moment.”
On the part of Chelsea‘s captain who most times is given the responsibility to oversee the club’s defense, Cesar Azpilicueta, noted that it is always a pressure on the whole team whenever one department of the team is weak.
He lamented that it has become so difficult that the club always have to score three to four goals in order not to lose a game just like in their match against West Brom (3-3) and Southampton (3-3).
“When you’re weak defensively sometimes we feel like we have to score three or four each game,” Azpilicueta said.
“I see football as a collective. When we don’t score, as a defender I think how can we put our attacking players in better situations.
“Through a season you are not going to be winning 3-0 or 4-0 every week. You have to work to get results and at the moment we have to improve that.”
The club will host Sevilla at Stamford Bridge on Tuesday in their first Champions League Group E match. Sevilla is very fearless in terms of scoring goals as they went through compact teams like Inter Milan and Manchester United to win the Europa League last season.
Hence, Tuesday night is another big test for Chelsea’s defense, especially for the club’s goalkeeper Kepa. The Spanish goalkeeper is expected to stand in for Edouard Mendy who is out with an injury he sustained while on international duty with Senegal.
