Chelsea appointed Frank Lampard as their new manager this summer and his first professional game in charge will be against Manchester United at Old Trafford.
Under normal circumstances, no one would have really expected Frank Lampard to pull any sort of magic on Sunday but the Blues have a fair chance of winning this match since Man United are being managed by Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
And speaking during the pre-match press conference, the Chelsea manager revealed that he wanted his players to work extra hard especially when they do not have the possession of the ball – indicating at how his players might start the game vs the Red Devils.
“My big idea is how we train,” Frank Lampard said(as reported).
“I want us to train how we want to play, to replicate that, even if I don’t think you can turn the switch on and off when you play.
“I want energy in my team. I want us to have possession of the ball. We have players who have the quality to handle the ball, but I don’t want it for possession’s sake.
“I want us to be an exciting team to watch so we can move the ball through the pitch quickly, and create chances.
“Then, of course, we have to be an aggressive team off the ball. We have to be a team who teams don’t like playing against because of how hard we work off the ball, and don’t like playing us because we’re really good on the ball. You can always strive for more in both departments.
“The philosophy question is a difficult one. You get asked it a lot. It gets linked straight to attacking football, and that is not what I am trying to do,” he added.
“We have to be adaptable. The idea of playing attacking football every week in the Premier League – good luck with that. It’s tough.
“We need to be able to understand wherever we go in this league you may have to adapt slightly. We need to be ready to do that. It’s not just about can we go and play this free-flowing beautiful football.”
This pressure creating philosophy might look like a good idea on paper but it will be really hard to achieve given that N’Golo Kante is expected to miss the season opener for Frank Lampard.
