by Frank Lampard has said Chelsea fans have every right to be concerned after sliding to a fifth consecutive defeat under his management to Brentford at Stamford Bridge.
Cesar Azpilicueta’s own goal and a late break from Bryan Mbeumo sealed a 2-0 victory for the visitors and condemned Lampard’s side to a sixth game in their last seven in which they failed to score like theirs slim hopes of finishing in the Premier League The top half of the league has become increasingly distant.
The numbers surrounding Chelsea’s downfall are alarming. They have not won in any competition or at any ground since beating Leicester at the King Power Stadium on 11 March, when Graham Potter was still manager.
Since then, Bruno Saltor and Lampard have jointly overseen a winless streak that now stands at eight games.
Just one player has scored for this side since Potter’s penultimate match in charge on 18 March, Conor Gallagher’s heavily deflected shot in a home defeat to Brighton.
That run is compounded by the fact that six of those eight winless games have come at Stamford Bridge.
Lampard subsequently defended the right of supporters to boo the team, as those who remained en masse did at the final whistle, but said it was confidence and not lack of enforcement that pushed the players into their downward spiral.
“Absolutely the fans are going to be concerned,” Lampard said. “If you are a Chelsea fan, you are used to 20 years of success, you are used to it and you want it more.
“I have no problem with fans booing. I’m not sitting here to go against the fans and say don’t boo the players. I will defend the players because they are young guys who want to do well. Is there a problem with trust? YES. Is there a problem with team balance? Maybe yes.
“I’m not patronizing everyone, I expect them to have an idea of what’s going on behind the scenes, but when you work it out in this Premier League, if you think Brentford will come and turn you around and give you corners and throw -ins against of you and you will walk in that game, it’s not like that at any time.
“When you are in the moment with a lack of confidence then it can be difficult to win a match. I’m not exempting players, far from it. I’m just supporting them. They are disappointed in there because they wanted to win that game. They behaved in my opinion as if they wanted to win it.
“Is there a trust issue? YES. Are we dynamic enough in the last third? No. Was it a long time before I came here? No. Those things are not things that will change overnight. We have to keep working.
“I understand the boos from the fans. I don’t think anyone is saying they can’t believe this is the case today.
Chelsea were lazy from the start and rarely looked to bring down Brentford, who battled their way to a second successive victory at this ground by patiently keeping the home side at arm’s length and biding their time to strike.
Azpilicueta on his return to the side was unlucky to tap the ball past Kepa Arrizabalaga from a Brentford corner, but Chelsea had only themselves to blame for how easily Mbeumo got past them to seal victory with 12 minutes left .
The home side’s XI had scored just 10 goals in total all season, and once again their lack of forward firepower was evident.
“There’s a balance in the team to deal with, I think everyone sees that,” said Lampard. “What can you do? This was a problem that preceded my recent arrival in this. When there aren’t many goals, you also need players who know how to do tactical work and work for the team.
“We have to keep working and fighting to try and create goalscoring opportunities. Maybe there are not so many goals in the team and we have little confidence. There is a clear problem in the squad, not scoring enough goals for a team like Chelsea.”
Brentford boss Thomas Frank reflected that Chelsea may have shown their side too much respect by picking a side with so few obvious attacking threats.
“So nice to win,” he said. “This was a deserved victory. We were aggressive in the high press especially in the first half. In the second half it was a little more difficult for us to do.
“I was happy that Chelsea showed us so much respect.
“I respect every team. We are not afraid of any team, but we have to be very respectful. We talked about the team when we saw the formation, they are still the top players who can decide the game at one moment.”
