Chelsea have suffered a 4-0 heavy loss against Manchester United at the Old Trafford in the opening Premier League on Saturday.
Former Chelsea manager, Jose Mourinho, said more experienced players like Olivier Giroud, N’Golo Kante and Marcos Alonso should have started.
However, the new Chelsea manager, Frank Lampard, has hit back at the Portuguese selection criticism in a press conference.
“Well I can’t drag people out of the medical room to play, if they are experienced or not.” Lampard said.
“So these are the players, the players that we played today, the players that were on the bench, in a game that we were clearly the better team for 45 to maybe 60 minutes.
“What was evident is we made individual errors that led to four goals out of their five shots. So there is the harsh reality for us. And I don’t have to be too concerned about what anyone else says, pundit-wise or whoever they may be, they have to speak.
“But at the same time, what is clear is the squad is the squad we’ve got, I believe in it and if we go in a half time two or three-one up, as we probably should have done if we were more clinical ourselves, to be fair, and had maybe a stroke of luck here and there, the game would have been completely different.” Lampard added.
Mourinho is currently working as a pundit for Sky Sports. He believes Lampard has made the wrong decision at the start of the season against United.
However, Lampard admitted his side made four mistakes against United, but felt his side were in control for a large parts of the game.
“It was nowhere near a 4-0. Four mistakes for the goals, but we controlled major parts of the first half. We hit the woodwork, poor decisions in the final third, we should be in the lead at half-time.” Lampard said.
“They are a counter-attacking team, it’s a big strength, they have pace, and if you give them opportunities they will counter. For massive parts of the game we didn’t allow them to do that. Loads of lessons for us.
“The team we put out today was clearly competing in the game for long periods but we made four mistakes and they were clinical in the way they put them away.” he added.
Lampard spent just one season at Derby County before agreeing to replace the Italian manager Maurizio Sarri at Stamford Bridge.
