Frank Lampard singled out N’Golo Kante for praise, despite Chelsea’s dramatic late defeat at Newcastle.
The Blues squandered an opportunity to boost their top four hopes ahead of Manchester United’s daunting visit to Anfield on Sunday.
Chelsea dominated possession and registered 19 shots but failed to make their dominance tell, before conceding an injury time goal as Isaac Hayden stole in unmarked and headed past Kepa Arrizabalaga.
Lampard was pleased with his side’s overall performance but admitted his side will continue to drop points unless they develop a more ruthless streak in front of goal.
Tammy Abraham was hauled off with 10 minutes remaining having endured a frustrating afternoon.
The England international was replaced by Michy Bastshuayi and Lampard revealed he resisted the temptation to field two out and out strikers, in part due to Kante’s display.
‘We can’t absolutely rely on Tammy Abraham,’ he said. ‘We have to have goals from across the frontline if we want to bridge the gap upwards. Tammy has been fantastic this season – it didn’t quite come off for him today but that’s football.
‘I can’t complain about anything from the team really. Of course we don’t want to give headers away in our box, they’re big and that happens but other than that, we gave everything we could to try to win the game.
‘You address on it on the training ground with the players but we can’t practise finishing or entering the final third any more than what we do. We have to be more clinical and the players know that.
‘Sometimes we can [switch to two in attack] if a game feels that way but in that case it would have meant bringing off N’Golo Kante – who was outsnading all game – or Jorginho at the base of our midfield and you have to be careful with their counter-attack.
‘We were creating a lot so the Michy change was to change the feeling of the striker. Can he come on and make something happen because he’s very dangerous around the box so it was just like-for-like.’
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