Lampard taught harsh lesson on his PL managerial debut as Man Utd punish errors to run riot at Old Trafford
Monday 12 August 2019 06:07, UK
Frank Lampard has warned there will be more harsh lessons for his youthful Chelsea side after Manchester United punished "fatal" errors on his managerial Premier League debut.
Lampard's Chelsea dominated for periods at Old Trafford, creating more chances and enjoying more possession than their hosts, but were punished for a series of defensive mistakes.
Kurt Zouma clumsy foul on Marcus Rashford handed the United striker a first-half penalty, while Anthony Martial and Daniel James benefitted for Chelsea errors to condemn Lampard to a 4-0 defeat in his first competitive game in charge of his former club.
"Let's be clear, with the injuries we have and the fact we couldn't bring in players, this is going to be a work in progress to a degree and we will have to learn harsh lessons and correct them quickly," the Chelsea boss said.
"We are missing internationals and big players, but I don't want to make excuses. The team we put out today was clearly competing in the game for long periods, but we made four mistakes and they were clinical in the way they put them away.
"There were lots of elements to the game that I liked and parts I didn't like that were fatal for us. I'm not going to complain too much about not being able to bring in players, I want to work, and I saw lots of positives today.
"The fans saw a team that were trying to do the right thing and then the game went against us really quickly. That was the harsh lesson for my team today."
Lampard opted for youth over experience at Old Trafford as Chelsea academy products Tammy Abraham and Mason Mount started ahead of the likes of Marcos Alonso, N'Golo Kante and Olivier Giroud.
He explained his team selection after the match. "I can't drag people out of the medical room to play, whether they are experienced or not," he said.
"These are the players that would play today, and we were clearly the better team for 45 to maybe 60 minutes.
"What was evident is that we made four individual errors that led to goals out of their five shots, there's the harsh reality for us.
"If we were more clinical, had a stroke of luck and went in at half-time two or three goals up, the game would be completely different."
