Chelsea boss Frank Lampard has revealed that things got very heated in the dressing room at half-time of Sunday’s win over Arsenal, though he was happy to see such a passionate reaction.
The Blues went behind at the Emirates but, after a tactical reshuffle from the manager, rallied in the second half and claimed all three points thanks to late goals from Jorginho and Tammy Abraham.
Lampard had a few choice words for his players at half-time though the home truths were largely dished out by the players themselves, something the manager was happy to see.
Asked about the half-time inquest, Lampard said: ‘I like that and there should be because you don’t want 11 quiet players who just get on with it and just want to trot out again.
‘I said my piece and was pretty firm because you can’t just come here and have nothing about you and think you’re going to get anything.
‘It was “can we show something here, lads? Because we have to, we’re Chelsea and we can’t just roll up and not feel like the 3,000 fans who have travelled across London to watch the game”.
‘Then the lads started talking and it was a bit aggressive, which is a good thing.’
Arsenal took a first-half lead through Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and dominated the early exchanges, with Lampard turning to his bench to bring on Jorginho.
He ditched the back three and reverted to a back four, adding an extra body in midfield, and the side responded immediately, with Lampard very unhappy with how his team started the game.
‘I could’ve made the changes after 10 minutes,’ said the Chelsea boss.
‘That’s not just Emerson, that’s probably any of the players to change it slightly because it’s hard to convey a message with your voice on the sidelines in this sort of atmosphere. Sometimes it has to be a gesture. We changed and it got better.’
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