CHELSEA LOSE AGAIN

We got basics wrong - Lampard on third loss in nine days

Chelsea are 11th in the table, which would be their worst finish since 1995-96.

In Summary

• We have to address it very quickly, me and the players because that's not a Chelsea performance-Lampard.

• Chelsea face Real Madrid at Stamford Bridge on Tuesday in the Champions League quarter-final second leg, having lost 2-0 at the Bernabeu last week.

Frank Lampard gestures during a past English Premier League match
Frank Lampard gestures during a past English Premier League match
Image: XINHUA

Interim manager Frank Lampard says Chelsea got the basics wrong and need to work harder after their 2-1 home Premier League defeat by Brighton.

They have lost three games in all competitions since former boss Lampard was reappointed this month.

Chelsea are 11th in the table, which would be their worst finish since 1995-96.

"We have to address it very quickly, me and the players because that's not a Chelsea performance," Lampard said.

Chelsea face Real Madrid at Stamford Bridge on Tuesday in the Champions League quarter-final second leg, having lost 2-0 at the Bernabeu last week.

"I've been at the club nine days. I don't like what I saw today," said Lampard, who will be in charge until the summer.

"I'm not going to try to dress that up in any way. There should be a feeling when you play for Chelsea where you're proud.

"To get there, there needs to be a new energy. That needs to come back.

"At the moment we're not in the perfect place. In football, you can change the story very quickly.

"We'll have to have a big desire to do that (against Real) and it will be a different game. We have to energise the crowd."

Lampard is Chelsea's all-time top goalscorer with 211 goals and returned to manage the club from 2019 to 2021 - before being sacked and replaced by Thomas Tuchel.

In the past year, Todd Boehly has replaced Russian Roman Abramovich as owner, spent more than £400m on new players and fired Tuchel and his replacement Graham Potter.

"It's not about the club I played for. It's a different era; times change," said Lampard.

"Even after the time I was manager, other managers have been here and seen success. It's Chelsea Football Club; it's bigger than all of us.

"We're not where we want to be. To put a timeline on that is not possible, but we have to work like we want to be there tomorrow. If you work like that you'll get there as quick as you can."

On their first home defeat by Brighton, Lampard said: "The scoreline doesn't flatter them; they could have scored more goals.

"Brighton are a very good team - they have been working together for a long time. The ideas, fitness, energy and connection within the team is so good and that's why they are where they are and we're not that.

"To get to that will take time, but the first things on the ladder are the basics that we got wrong and were short on today. And that can't be right for us.

"Confidence can do that to you. We've all been there. There is only one way out of that and that's to work."