[ad_1]
Chelsea manager Frank Lampard refused to blame their first loss in 18 games at the feet of goalkeeper Edouard Mendy after his mistake led to Everton’s game-winning penalty.
The Senegal international clumsily dropped Dominic Calvert-Lewin, allowing Gylfi Sigurdsson to score the decisive 22nd minute penalty shot and inflict Chelsea’s third consecutive defeat at Goodison Park.
It was his second mistake in two games, as his mistake also led to a goal against Leeds last week, but there were failures elsewhere with only 10 shots attempted in the game and none on target after the 28th minute.
“It has been fantastic since he was here and I don’t think it was clearly his mistake,” Lampard said after coming second best against his former Chelsea manager.
“The mentality of the team to deal with second balls in the first part of the game was not good.
“This was a team that was well organized and that wanted us not to play and when you give them that advantage it’s difficult.
“I don’t think we necessarily deserve to lose the game, but if we’re honest, it wasn’t the ‘us’ of recently.
“I think we could have gotten something out of the game, I wouldn’t say we were unlucky, but I don’t think we’re at our best tonight.
“We have had a very good run and we knew what would come with Everton physically and we did not handle it well. We didn’t show enough to break them down. “
Necessity was the mother of invention for Everton manager Carlo Ancelotti, as injuries meant he had to field a quartet of central defenders on all four of his backs, while Sigurdsson only played due to a calf problem from the Everton playmaker James Rodríguez.
But that really worked to their advantage, as once they got ahead they were able to defend resolutely (their team had only 28 percent possession) on their way to just a second win in eight games and the first clean sheet of the Premier League. from the opening day of the season.
“We needed this performance, we needed these points,” he said.
“After a difficult period we were able to move on, now we are showing more consistency, at least tonight the performance was really good.
“You can’t beat Chelsea if you don’t have a good performance.
“Defensively we were really good. We did not grant opportunities, only set pieces to shoot from outside the area, but in the (open) game we were very good because I think we were well organized with defenders and midfielders ”.
The match was the first to admit fans at Goodison Park since March and the Italian felt that helped his team.
“It made a big difference, a totally different atmosphere. We only had 2000, but the atmosphere was completely different.
“We are very happy about this. I hope the whole crowd returns as soon as possible. “
[ad_2]
