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Midfield balance
N’Golo Kante’s knee injury last season limited his involvement during the first half of last season and Chelsea are a different team with him on the pitch. At Turf Moor, four backs were protected and allowed Mason Mount and Kai Havertz to carry on. With Kante playing, he also allows the full-backs to move forward, which means they are playing with two defenders.
“There was a balance in which we worked. Although we can’t physically work on it, we talk a lot about it in training camp, ”said Lampard. “It is part of the process. When you bring in new players, they have to get to know each other. “
Havertz played a deeper role and his presence alongside new signings Hakim Ziyech and Timo Werner is a troubling thought for opposing defenses.
“It’s not just what I’m telling them, it’s their relationship on the field,” Lampard said. “I don’t want to jump all the way and say ‘our balance is done’, but when you keep a clean sheet and score goals, you are going in the right direction.”
Attack the sides
Ben Chilwell has adapted quickly and solved Lampard’s problem as a left back, while Reece James is making excellent decisions on the ball. Both are proving to be attacking threats, but have also played an important role at Chelsea by keeping four clean sheets in a row.
“He and Reece perfectly found their moments to get involved and bond in high areas of the field, then recovered perfectly to be in position for the second balls that were presented to us,” Lampard said. “We saw a little bit of balance from when they left, our number 8 midfield dropped out. We were finding different lines very well.
“Chili covers a lot of high intensity distance in games and that’s one of the reasons I brought him here. It will improve, there is still much to get out of it ”.
Attack angle
Ziyech started as a right forward, but Lampard allows him to come in and influence the game, as he did with the first goal against Burnley and the assist from Werner. His first two starts have seen him score twice and are leading him to comparisons to Eden Hazard.
Werner is part of Lampard’s new backbone, even though he started on the left against Sean Dyche’s team. He was still in the center areas, but starting wide allows him to time his runs and become a threat at the far post.
Lampard also has Christian Pulisic to return and scans on a hamstring problem will determine how long he will be out.
