Chelsea stars warned they must get nastier ahead of FA Cup clash vs Nottingham Forest - 7M sport

Chelsea stars warned they must get nastier ahead of FA Cup clash vs Nottingham Forest



Posted Saturday, January 04, 2020 by Express.co.uk

Chelsea stars warned they must get nastier ahead of FA Cup clash vs Nottingham Forest
Chelsea stars have been warned (Image: GETTY)

Chelsea’s players have been warned they have got to get nastier – and not just the youngsters.

Frank Lampard’s young team have been getting the plaudits for their exciting football this season – but a run of five defeats in their last 11 games has seen their grip on a top four Premier league place wobble, and questions start to be asked about their character.

But as Chelsea prepared to face a potentially awkward FA Cup third round clash with Championship high flyers Nottingham Forest – and with Lampard himself struggling to shrug off a flu bug in time to be ready - his players were handed a shot across their bows.

Lampard’s assistant Jody Morris – a Chelsea Cup winner as a player himself in 2000 – warned his players: “There needs to be ruthlessness to your game. You need to be clinical. There are moments where maybe we would like some of them to be more nasty.

“We’ve proved we can be like that. We’ve out-fought teams. The relentlessness of our work rate has been good most of the time.

“But you need to perform when your stock has gone up and people start valuing you as a player more and respecting you more.

“The manager has close relationships with them and when he needs to give some of them a kick up the backside he has no problem doing it.

“We are in a man’s game. We are in big competitions week in week out - that is what you get at Chelsea. They are in the first team umbrella now.”

But Morris added: “It’s not just the young players. The ones that have been inconsistent have not been just the young lads.”

“There have certainly been moments when Frank is 100 per cent the bad cop.

“When there are things that need to be said, 99 per cent of the time it’s him that says it.

“The results would maybe point towards this period being Frank’s first major test as a manager - but we have had moments when we have been winning games where we have been just as frustrated.

“Frank is one of those who lives and breathes it. At night you might get a text message saying ‘look at this, look at that.’ He is passionate about improving players, passionate about winning.

“There were times at Derby last season when we were winning but certain things were not being carried out we were asking for. He is a deep thinker. He was like that as a player and he is like that as a manager.”

Forest manager Sabri Lamouchi has saluted the courage Lampard is showing, saying talk of his inexperience is 'stupid.'

The former Inter Milan midfielder said: “Talk about Frank being too young for a job like that is stupid.

“You either have quality in the job or you don't. And he's clever. He knows the job. He knows the club. He knows the players and he will learn.

“And he's already doing the job with courage.

“He changed the system against Spurs and he started the game against Arsenal with one formation but after half-an-hour he changed it because of something he saw. So he doesn't just have one philosophy. He's competent and very positive.

“He showed that in the first game when they lost at Manchester United. His management was criticised as was the line-up. Then he won games. It's not, as a manager, always about being successful. There are some big disappointments – big losses. But you have to keep working. He knows where he wants to go.”



Attention: Third parties may advertise their products and/or services on our website.7M does not warrant the accuracy, adequacy or completeness of their contents.
Your dealings with such third parties are solely between you and such third parties and we shall not be liable in any way for any loss or damage of any sort incurred by you.