Lampard sends fresh Chelsea team selection warning to squad ahead of Wolves & Real Madrid

Frank Lampard has offered hope to the whole Chelsea squad after offering his team selection stance.

The 44-year-old, who returned to Chelsea on Thursday following his appointment until the end of the season, will take charge of his first game back at the club on Saturday when they face Wolves in the Premier League .

Lampard has taken charge of his first two training sessions  – on Thursday and Friday – as he prepares his team for the trip to Molineux, with the Blues aiming to claim their first victory in the Premier League in four matches.

Many players were left sidelined by former head coach Graham Potter, but after Lampard’s appointment they will hope to involved between now and the end of the season. 

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Hakim Ziyech are two of many, while Trevoh Chalobah will also be keen to get more minutes under his belt.

Lampard has a task on his hands to manage the 30-plus squad and admitted he intends to give everyone a clean slate, offering all of the first-team group fresh hope over their game time. 

“I hope so,” the Chelsea boss replied on whether or not he can improve the managing of a big squad. “Modern football has big squads and I understand Chelsea might be the top end of that.

“I remember being here before and I had lots of difficult decisions of really good players and good people that you have to tell, you’re not involved this week. Part of the job is to try and manage that situation and make every player feel included.

“Maybe in the beginning, with it being a short term, that’s a positive thing for me because everyone can have a clean slate as such, and show in training and be competitive in training and the competitive nature can crossover onto the pitch. That’s a good thing about the squad, you can push each other and try and manage that.”

He added: “In terms of goalscoring, there’s no genius answer for a coach to explain to you about scoring goals to a point. You can set up the structure of a team and work to get your team in a dominant area of the pitch a lot. We saw that against Liverpool, a lot of good chances.

“All I’ll be here is to work repetition on the training ground, to work in terms of speaking to the players. Fortunately, it was a big part of my game. That’s not me comparing it. It’s just understanding the mindset to take that aggressive, cold-hearted nature to want to score goals. I know the players will have that, it’s just a case of trying to direct that in the right way.”

More on Frank Lampard’s return to Chelsea

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