The Chelsea manager has made yet another ridiculous claim.
The FA Cup final loss is still fresh in Chelsea fans’ hearts as it was a difficult one to take, seeing their London rivals go against popular belief and lift the FA Cup at their expense. There are no two ways about it, Arsenal were simply the better team as the players wanted it more.
Of course, Chelsea did get unlucky. Christian Pulisic‘s injury didn’t exactly help them and they were hard done by from Anthony Taylor, who gave an unnecessary and plain stupid red card to Mateo Kovacic.
If Frank Lampard were to comment on these, I would say absolutely, fair enough. Although Arsenal were winning at this point anyway, it’s not exactly controversial that Anthony Taylor didn’t have the best of performances in his second FA Cup final.
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However, the English manager has made a frankly, if you pardon the pun, ridiculous claim. According to the Metro, Lampard is frustrated that Chelsea players “ignored” his pre-game warnings about Arsenal playing it long.
This, to me, sounds like he is refusing to take accountability. If he did warn the Chelsea players about Arsenal playing long-ball, then they didn’t ignore his commands, they actively opposed them. I mean, Cesar Azpilicueta was pretty much playing as a winger when he was on the pitch, that doesn’t sound like someone who has been warned about the long-ball.
Besides, the second Arsenal goal didn’t come from hoofing it long. In fact, it came from a terrific Hector Bellerin run, without being challenged in the slightest, before Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang wrong-footed Kurt Zouma.
Mikel Arteta outplayed Frank Lampard, there’s no other reason. Arsenal were the better side and the players wanted it more, as I said earlier. Lampard had plenty of time to warn his players about Arsenal’s “long-ball tactic”, which wasn’t the reason for their loss anyway, with half-time and the drink breaks.
Lampard would be better off taking accountability and moving forward because it’s now damage limitation against Bayern Munich at the weekend.
Do you think Frank Lampard is right to blame the players for the FA Cup final loss?