Stamford Bridge return ‘the stuff of dreams’, but result more important – Lampard

Frank Lampard said his return to Stamford Bridge as manager was a special moment, but that he was disappointed with Chelsea’s 1-1 draw with Leicester City.

Lampard, who played for the west London club for 13 years, and is their leading goalscorer, made his return in the dugout on Sunday.

The Blues took an early lead through Mason Mount, but Wilfred Ndidi restored parity for the visitors who held out for a draw, meaning Lampard is winless in his first three matches.

Despite that, the 41-year-old thanked the fans for their support, but said he’s been focused on the match, not the occasion.

“It felt great, he said after the game, “it is a special moment for me to come back to the club and manage them at Stamford Bridge, of course it is the stuff of dreams.”

“For me it is a huge thing, but my focus today was on the match and trying to win.

“Thanks very much to the fans, I appreciate that, but I am here to do a job and here to try and win for the club and we can do better than we did today.”

During Lampard’s short reign Chelsea have had a habit of starting quickly and falling away as the game has progressed, a pattern that repeated itself on Sunday.

Lampard acknowledged his team have had an issue maintaining their fast starts, and credited Leicester for their role in destabilising them in the game.

He also said his club must do more to cement their dominance, by focusing on ball retention.

“The first 25 minutes, we still had chances after Mason scored, that first patch is how we want to play and the rest of the game wasn’t quite how we want to play,” he added

“Credit to Leicester for that, they put us under pressure, we weren’t good enough in possession after the first 25 minutes, which gifted them possession back.

“We gave them the feeling that, because we didn’t score the second that they were in the game. In the second half we left far too many spaces for them, they are a very good team on the counter attack, they have got good individual players who can really hurt you.

“That was the disappointing thing, we couldn’t sustain the period in the early part of the game. I don’t expect the 100mph energy for 90 minutes, but I do expect that when you rest you do keep possession of the ball better.”