New Manager, Same Chelsea, As Frank Lampard Reacts To The Defeat Against Wolves In His First Game Back In Charge As Caretaker Boss..

Frank Lampard's return to Chelsea didn't get off to a great start, but was rather more like a new manager, same old Chelsea story.

It wasn't the result that the club's former player and manager Frank Lampard was hoping for on his surprise return to Chelsea as a caretaker manager until the end of the season following Graham Potter's sack last Sunday, just less than seven months into a five-year contract.

Lampard who had previously managed Chelsea from July 2019 until was sacked in January 2021 (27 months ago), he has been out of job since he was also sacked again by Everton in January.

His first game since his return to the Blues dugout away to Wolverhampton Wanderers on Saturday afternoon ended in a disappointing 1-0 defeat, as he was unable to solve their attacking problems.

The game at the Molineux stadium, saw Matheus Nunes score a stunning volley in the first half (31st minutes) of the encounter which Chelsea failed to find a response to despite all their lavish spendings on players this season alone under new owner Todd Boehly.

They were unable to find their way back into the game and suffered their 11th loss of this Premier League season, failing to score for the third successive game as their season continues to fall apart.

Wolves move four points above the relegation zone with the win, but Chelsea remain in 11th position and 17 points off the top four, with four wins in their last 21 matches.

Speaking after the defeat, Lampard claimed some of the players in the squad don’t have a history of scoring goals, which is their major problem in front of goal; "We have to find the reasons and solutions for that.

"The only way I know is to work. We have to give some credit to players but some players here haven’t got a history of scoring goals, maybe fresh to the league or are new players.

"You have to give them time and work with them. At the same time, we’re Chelsea and want to score goals and win games so we have to find a solution to that."

On the teams overall performance today Lampard said; "In the first half I thought we were slightly off the pace. You could feel Wolves were aggressive, fighting for their Premier League status and I felt they had a little bit more aggression in their game. It's something I said to the players at half-time.

"Second half we corrected that slightly in the early parts, had some more chances but, at that point, you're 1-0 down. We've been here a day or two, trying to work the players out and give them information, we're going to keep on doing that to try and improve because we've got big games coming up."

He also added that he did not expect to solve all of Chelsea's problems in one day after his return to the hot-seat.

"It's a big task managing Chelsea, we know we're not in a position we want to be in. There's always a reason for it.

"I didn't expect to solve everything in one day. You have to have more aggression in your game, more speed and more competitive duels which go your way.

"The players need to be aware of that because without that you can't win games. It was interesting to see anyway, I'm here to help with that. It's not stinging criticism, I know there's a lot of talent there."

Chelsea focus will now turn to their next game which is the quarter-final first leg clash against the reigning European and World champions Real Madrid in the Champions League; 

"Right now we have to focus on Madrid, it's huge game waiting for us on Wednesday where everything changes.

"It's a different competition, it will be a different type of game and it's up to us to prepare in the right way and anything can happen. We respect the fact we're playing the current holders so we have to focus on that now and cannot be too despondent.

"We'll certainly analyse the game and we have to make improvements because we feel we want to be better and the only way to get better is hard work, and sometimes it doesn't come overnight."

Chelsea are without a win in four games and would be hoping on a miracle when they travel to the Spanish capital on Wednesday night.

Lampard would want to borrow morale from his time as a player at Stamford Bridge when Roberto di Matteo led Chelsea to Champions League glory in 2012 as a caretaker boss before earning the job on a full-time basis.