Frank
Lampard does not think Jose Mourinho has lost the Chelsea dressing room, but
insists they need to turn things around quickly.
Chelsea's miserable season continued with a 2-1 defeat away at Leicester to
leave them 20 points behind Claudio Ranieri's league leaders and down in
16th place in the table, just one point above the relegation places.
Defeat at the King Power Stadium was Chelsea's ninth of the season and
Lampard, who was a guest on Monday Night Football, thinks Mourinho's players
need to take a long hard look at their own performances during the slump.
I don't know whether he's [Jose Mourinho] lost them but something has to
change [at Chelsea]. It has to change right now.
"They are good players but far too many of them are underperforming and they
have been for a while.
"This is Chelsea we are talking about now. Chelsea on a bad year should be
top six. They should still be there or thereabouts but where they are, just
above the relegation zone, is impossible.
"I don't know whether he's lost them, but something has to change," he
added.
"It has to change right now. Whether it's attitude or performance or
something else, it has to change."
Back-to-back league defeats at home at Bournemouth and away at Leicester
increases the pressure further on Mourinho but Lampard does not think the
change at Stamford Bridge should be the manager.
"That's only one man's decision and that will be Roman Abramovich," Lampard
said.
"He's probably looking at it very closely. Obviously we've been here before
with Chelsea, when managers change midway through the season.
"I don't know how many times you can do that. We had some good results from
doing it before but we had a different set of players at that point.
"But I have to say what they set out to do when Jose Mourinho came back was
to have a long-term plan. What can they gain by getting rid of him now?
"They are probably not going to make the top four anyway or the top six.
They're not going to get relegated if we are honest so I'm sure there's a
view from Roman Abramovich to say: 'Hang on, let's see what happens at the
end of the season.
"Why make a rash change that can't really affect the year that much, and
then see where we are at the end of the season."
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