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The Blues duo have yet to get started despite some brilliant moments in the early games of their West London career.
Frank Lampard believes Chelsea have little reason to worry after failing to score in their last two games, insisting that he has full faith that Timo Werner and Kai Havertz will soon be at their pace.
Chelsea managed a single shot on goal in a 0-0 draw with Manchester United on Saturday, the same score as the midweek draw with Sevilla in the Champions League.
The Blues have moved to a more defensive approach this week after starting the season with a more open style, but they have yet to find their balance or make the best of their attack.
Still, head coach Lampard is backing his internationals with Germany alongside players like Hakim Ziyech and Christian Pulisic to make a difference over the course of the season.
“I am very happy with Timo,” Lampard told reporters through a Zoom video press conference. “If you go back to the previous game, he scored two goals and Kai Havertz scores one goal. The least I worry about is the front of the field with the players we have there.
“It is normal that it takes some time for relationships [to build]. Because when we have to put the ball behind, the ball at the feet, clearly these things are going to take time to build. The reason we brought Timo and Kai to the club is to increase the quality that we already have here.
“It seems that Hakim Ziyech is about to start a match with his physical condition. I don’t worry about that. The last thing didn’t happen to us today. It’s normal, that happens in football, but I’m very happy with the players.”
Under Lampard, Chelsea have typically been a proactive pressure team who like to keep possession, but have sat down to defend more deeply in the last week and have looked to play longer passes.
Lampard has admitted that the Blues are still looking to strike the right balance between defense and attack, while praising the recent impact of their 36-year-old defender Thiago Silva.
“Where we have conceded more goals in certain games than we would have liked this season, it is important to address those issues,” Lampard added. “Obviously you go to them in the back and I think today we defended the area very well.
“Defending for me, at this level, is about concentration. Concentration is what will define the defense in the best players in general. What you saw today in Thiago Silva is a defender who concentrates on every moment of the game every minute , to not only affect things for him, but affect those around him, I think today was a great advantage.
“The balance of the team is something that we are constantly trying to work on. We went into some nice areas in the last third, but we didn’t have the usual spark that we’ve already seen in Timo, in Kai or what Christian can do.” . That’s normal.
“I will do something very positive about the fact that we defended very well today, at times we had good control, but we didn’t have that penetration that we normally have.”
Elsewhere, Manchester City drew at West Ham and Liverpool added all three points against Sheffield United, but were not comfortable in their 2-1 victory.
Those big clubs, along with teams like Chelsea, United, Arsenal and Tottenham, have lost points early in the season.
Lampard pointed to the lack of preseason and fans as part of the problems facing the “big six”, which have been caused by the general challenges of playing amid the coronavirus pandemic.
“I think it is difficult to pin down, as there may be a number of factors,” he concluded. “The fans are a factor, but I don’t know why it certainly feels like a factor. My feeling is, speaking of ourselves, that we went to play Arsenal in the cup final a week after the season ended.
“A lot of the other teams ended their season when we played the Wolves, so I couldn’t give the guys a few days. [before the final]. Then we went to Munich a week later, so I couldn’t give the guys a few days there. Then the boys had two weeks off.
“Then we came back and we had double digits of isolation for two weeks. So it’s not easy, I hate excuses because you just want to advance but from our point of view, and we had new players coming into the team.”
“Soccer is all about relationships on the field. It’s always about the passing moment a forward wants, whether you go inside or outside. Those kinds of things are what you work on training ground.
“Now we are working on them in the game to try to improve a lot in the team. It is normal that the results are affected when it comes to teams that are expected to be at the top.”
“We just have to keep our heads in place and improve, because we have a lot of faith in the squad. Today they show the base to be able to keep a clean sheet and show resistance. I’m less worried [about] relationships at the top of the field, as that will depend on individual quality and we certainly do. “
