The manager of Chelsea Frank Lampard has refused to blame the club’s goalkeeper, Edouard Mendy, for the only goal Chelsea conceded in their Premier League match against Everton on Saturday.
In the first half of the match, Dominic Calvert-Lewin was with the ball in Chelsea’s box-eighteen and Chelsea’s goalkeeper decided to launch a challenge on him which resulted in a foul. Everton’s Gylfi Sigurdsson stepped up to score the spot-kick and Chelsea could not find a way back into the game until the match ended 1-0 in favor of the Merseyside club.
Q: What's cooler than being cool? 🎶
— Everton (@Everton) December 13, 2020
A: Ice cold Gylfi Sigurdsson. 🧊#EVECHE pic.twitter.com/RYOBjI0egS
While reacting to the outcome of the match on Saturday night, Frank Lampard blamed the mentality of his players for the penalty awarded to Everton. He acknowledged how good Edouard Mendy has been since he joined the club in the 2020 summer transfer window.
On his general assessment of the match, Frank Lampard noted that he felt his club deserved to get a point out of the match but his strikers failed to seize the opportunity to put the ball into the opponent’s net.
He said though people believe that Chelsea have the best squad in the league, the club’s present squad is still a work in progress and expect a good response from his team to the 1-0 defeat when Chelsea meet Wolves on Tuesday, December 15.
“I feel we could’ve got something out of the game but we didn’t pepper their goal,” Lampard said. “We had the opportunities to get at least a point but we weren’t at our best. Once it went to 1-0, we gave ourselves a problem and we didn’t do enough to break them down.
“Edouard has been fantastic since he’s been here, but I don’t think it was just his mistake. The mentality of the whole team wasn’t good to cut out the ball. When you give them a head start in this stadium, against this team, it’s very difficult. It wasn’t us for the first time in a while.
“I keep reading how we’ve got the strongest squad in the league but I don’t understand it. The teams who have won the league in recent years have squads that are littered with wingers who have scored a lot of goals but we’re in a position where we are a work in progress.
“We will have nights like this. I don’t like them but we will have to bounce back strong. Let’s see what happens on Tuesday.”
The defeat in the hands of Everton is yet to move Chelsea down from the 3rd spot they were before the match. They are still occupying the spot with 22 points in 12 league games pending the outcome of Leicester City’s league match and that of Southampton.
As for Everton, the victory over Chelsea at Goodison Park on Saturday has lifted the club to the 7th spot on the league table with 20 points in 12 games.
The coach of the winning side, Carlo Ancelotti, praised his club’s defense for ensuring that Chelsea’s attack fail to penetrate it throughout the match. The defense was able to ensure that Everton got a second victory in 8 league matches.
“We needed this performance and these points,” said Ancelotti. “After a difficult period, we’re able to move on and we’re showing more consistency. The performance was really good. You cannot beat Chelsea without good performance.
“Defensively we were really good. We didn’t give up many opportunities, just two outside of the box. I think we were well organized with defenders and midfielders. The way the team fought was top-class.”
