Despite edging the hosts in possession and shots on target, the Blues could not find a way to goal and paid the price in a heavy reverse
Frank Lampard is adamant Manchester United’s 4-0 thrashing of Chelsea flattered the Red Devils considerably.
Lampard was taking charge of his first Premier League game for the Blues since replacing Maurizio Sarri as head coach and for long periods they competed well.
But Marcus Rashford scored from a penalty after a clumsy Kurt Zouma tackle, before Cesar Azpilicueta was twice at fault in the second period – Anthony Martial and his striker partner punishing the Spaniard.
Debutant Daniel James wrapped things up with a deflected effort and although Lampard was left ruing individual errors, he insists United were not as superior as the scoreline suggests.
When asked if the score was harsh on Chelsea, Lampard told Sky Sports: “Without a doubt. Four mistakes, four goals, let’s get that out straight away, because we have to be self-critical.
“Other than that, for 60 minutes we controlled the game. We controlled the first half, major parts of it, [hit the] woodwork, [played] balls across the face of goal.
“There were poor decisions in the final third when we should have been able to get shots away and score, at half time we should be in the lead.
“Again, early in the second half I didn’t mind it [being behind], but then the second and third goal, two mistakes, and it’s much easier for them to play at 3-0 up.
“At 1-0 we were the better team, but I can’t stand here and look happy with that because it’s 4-0.
“This is a counter-attacking team [United], a big strength of theirs. We know they have pace, if you turn over the ball or give them opportunities to play in behind, they will.
“For large parts of the game we didn’t [let them] do that, we were the ones who were bright, breaking, the last bit [in the final third] wasn’t great, but we were so comfortable in the way we were playing in the first half, so there are loads of lessons for us.
“You can’t make unforced errors at this level, but it’s not a result that if you just switched on and saw it was a 4-0, it was nowhere near a 4-0.”
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