Frank Lampard Opens Up On A Huge Positive Despite Loss Against Derby County

Asked for his assessment of his players’ display, Lampard said: “Not a terrible performance. It was a difficult game for us. Conceding the set-piece was an obvious disappointment for us because Derby are strong at them, a big team who play for them a lot, so I was disappointed with that.

“It wasn’t for the want of trying from the players. It was a tough pitch and the goal gave them something for them to hold onto. They are fighting. And off the back of the run we have been on, you have to understand that these nights can come. I think we have to be very balanced about that and as much as it’s not nice, it’s not realistic to keep winning, winning, winning.

“So my first thought is the reaction for Saturday coming.”

Asked if it’s important for his players to park this result and remember good things that earned them their recent success, he said: “Yes, I certainly do. At a place like this they are very aggressive and the ball is in the air a lot and transitions are a big thing for them. You can lose it where you feel the players are not quite at it in terms of application but I didn’t feel that. From having control in the first 20 minutes the tide turned a bit with the goal.

“And then the start of the second half it was disappointing to make the foul, the cross comes in, corners and these things. They are not always easy to control when the ball is bouncing about and it keeps coming in your box a lot and things can drop to them, which they did.

“And after that we were pushing against a low block, and it was difficult for the players, to be fair.”

He added: “There are obviously things we want to do better but, again, we have to be realistic in the big scheme of things from where we were to where we are now is a big, big positive. And one negative result, I am certainly not going to sit here and criticise the group because they are the reason why we have had this amazing run. And we’ll just have to go again.”