蘭帕德：球霸力有好有壞、艱難時期要團結 - 切爾西足球俱樂部 Chelsea Football Club

https://www.chelseafc.com/en/news/2021/01/09/
lampard-on-player-power-and-whether-the-squad-can-be-trimmed

Lampard on player power and whether the squad can be trimmed

09 Jan 2021


Player power – it is an expression that was frequently used by the media
to describe what they believed was a force within at Chelsea during the
days when Frank Lampard was one of the members of the squad.


https://i.imgur.com/fPB37Jh.jpg


It was particularly mentioned back then when results were not good and the
manager of the day may have been under pressure but Lampard recalls it was
as much about the players taking responsibility for their own performances
and the team, so it was a sign of strength rather than weakness. Player
power can be a positive as well as a negative he explains.


'Having been in those squads, I can state clearly that sometimes how that
player power phrase got relayed out to the open world and how it was
inside was not always the same thing,' Lampard begins.


'Player power can be two things, it can be a good thing and it can be a
bad thing, and a lot of times in my time here at club, when you have a
strong squad of players in their prime performing at the top level there
will still be dips but they have personality and they dig in and and find
a way, that's what players do at top clubs who are successful time and
time again.


'Where we are at the minute means we have been off the pace in terms of
winning the Premier League for a few years so we're not in that. When
you're in a rebuild you're searching for anything that can help this squad
grow because as it's growing there are tough times, they have to react and
get over it. Then there's another tough time and they have to react and
get over that.


'The players have to do that, so for me I'm looking closely now at the
players, as I look at myself, because the players will do it on the pitch
but I'm always at the forefront of it, to find how they react and dig in
as a group because a lot of them are young, some are very new, it's a big
ask to ask young players and players fresh to this club to be like the
players who have been here for many years and seen it all before. Other
teams around in the Premier League have that, we do not have that, so
that's the first part of player power.'


He goes on to explain that the second part is when people talk negatively.
He realised quickly in his job that whether the team wins or loses, but
particularly if it loses some games and because of the size of the squad
with more players not starting the game than starting it, then players
react differently.


'The players that are wanting to play, some of them will use that for
really positivity but some not so much,' he says.


'Maybe some will speak behind backs because that's how life is, I can't be
concerned with that. All I can say is the players here I feel have a real
desire to get out of this mini run of bad results and I can see that in
them. If there are players that don't have those concerns to get out of it
then they have decisions to make, and if there's opportunities that
players leave it will have to be right for them, for myself and for the
club and then that can happen. But if not we keep fighting and moving on
because they want to play and contribute and I want to tap into the
positive side of that.


https://i.imgur.com/eoKrGqF.jpg
Lampard on the touchline


'Players that are not playing will not be happy and they shouldn't be
happy because players want to start for this club, but the basic maths of
it is that I have to pick a team that goes out and on top of that because
we have a big squad then there are some players that are not playing. I
don't ask for them to be jumping up and down when they get home about how
great I am but all we're asking for is to train well, back your
team-mates, have a determined attitude every day and that's it.


'I don't expect it to be a popularity contest for myself, I never felt
that in the dressing room under any manager at the best of times or in
tough times, that's not the point. The point is that the club and players
have to keep fighting in tough times. What we have to do is stick
together.'


On whether the squad will be trimmed this month, Lampard had this to say.


'We'll see what happens because we're in a very tough time in terms of
Covid so anything would have to be right for the club first and foremost,
for the player depending on contracts and for myself, so it's not a simple
question to answer. You want to have a squad that means you can give real
balance to it and give players minutes and have good competition at the
same time.


'I understand players are not happy when they're not playing, I understand
that, I just can't make the decision to play everyone and that can be
challenging. At the minute we have a big squad but the first thing is how
we perform week in, week out and at the moment we're not getting the
results we want. Before we were so let's hope we get back to it very soon.'

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"We believe the same thing."

"Maybe there is hope."
- 9x20 The Truth

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