Frank Lampard accused his players of not being aggressive enough against a determined Portsmouth side who thumped Coventry City 4-1 at Fratton Park.
The Sky Blues made a perfect start to the game when Norman Bassette gave them the third-minute lead and went close to adding a second minutes later. However, poor defending and goalkeeping combined to hand Pompey an equaliser and the home side’s lead just before the break. And things got even worse in the second half when more woeful marking saw Callum Lang complete his hat-trick before tapping home a fourth to complete the rout.
Asked if it was particularly disappointing defensively, the City boss said: “Yes, but everywhere really because defending is a team effort. The first half was OK in general play. It’s a difficult place to come here and they make it difficult, so credit to them for their performance.
“The first half was even, but two mistakes give them their goals. Second half, no, not good enough. It’s easy to see and it’s the first one that I have had since I have been here because the performances have been generally pretty good.
“They were very good last week and even at West Brom we could look for positives in the game, but the second half today was a real clear show of what football’s about, especially in the Championship. If you find a hard moment and you don’t compete, and you go, then the result will look after itself, and it did. So there are big, big learnings on that front.”
As for the disappointing manner of the four goals, Lampard said: “Yes, absolutely, I think they speak for themselves. I am not going to harp on about individual errors because they happen, but they were clear and they will lose you games.
“They were too aggressive for us in the second half and we weren’t aggressive enough for them, and if you get that bit wrong in the Championship then you will lose games like this. So that’s a clear understanding from me today.”
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