Frank Lampard has vowed to ‘take no one off the hook’ after Chelsea were knocked out of the Champions League with another 2-0 loss to Real Madrid.
The Blues suffered their fourth consecutive loss in so many games that Rodrigo’s double doomed them to a 4-0 aggregate loss in the quarter-finals.
Chelsea’s latest defeat means Lampard has watched the club’s worst record in all competitions in nearly three decades since his return as interim boss.
Although the Santiago Bernabéu have improved significantly in the past week, the former midfielder still needs to improve his standards and he says he won’t let any player go lightly.
“You play for Chelsea,” he told BT Sport. “In every game you play, you have to give everything. I won’t let anyone off the hook and we have to show. This standard cannot fall.
“We played very well all 60 minutes. We have created chances, but you have to use them. You don’t want to praise performance too much when you lose at this level.
18 – Chelsea lost four consecutive games in all competitions for the first time since November 1993, and failed to score more than 18 different matches in a season for the first time since 1980–81 (21) (21). Fall. pic.twitter.com/fa17NxpOFq
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) April 18, 2023
“But we have improved a lot. This club has progressed further in this competition and the players can take that feeling with them into the future.”
Conor Gallagher also echoed his manager’s words, admitting that Chelsea have failed to capitalize on their opportunities as their goal drought continues to overshadow them.
Having only scored once since the start of April, the England midfielder has stressed that they must capitalize on the positives in the final weeks of the Premier League season.
“Football is an opportunity to use your chances, which we did not do today,” he added. “Of course we will be torn apart. We don’t have it (advanced) per minute.
“But it was definitely a big improvement over recent performances. We’ll take it one game at a time. Hopefully we can build on the performance because I feel like it was kind of positive.”