The last Champions League match played by Chelsea against Valencia ended in a draw, 2-2, but there was a moment the Blues could have won and picked the required points to advance in the competition. The UCL game was a thriller, no doubt, but Chelsea manager Frank Lampard was not exactly happy, considering the implications.
Lampard admitted that the roller-coaster game at the Mestalla might have been epic but how it went also exposed a few negative things on the Chelsea gameplay. At best, the match depicted an English team that seemed unsure of its capabilities.
The report from Football London best described the current state of Chelsea's mindset on the pitch, and as illustrated in the team's latest game.
"In a fleeting moment, Champions League qualification was in their grasp. The next second it was ripped away from them. Then just minutes later, it looked like they would be dumped into the Europa League," recalled the report.
The element of inconsistency was apparent in how Chelsea is faring so far, for instance, in the Premier League. In the competition, the team belongs to the Top 4 of the table and has so far registered 28 goals.
Yet on the other hand, the Blues also allowed the opposing teams to get dangerously near to the box. As a result, Chelsea permitted 19 goals to zing by.
Lampard said the game with Valencia should show to the Blues players that they missed too many and big opportunities.
"We both had incredible chances, we had one in the first few minutes ... Did I love the match? No I didn't love it. Because it hasn't been many times this season where I have had to say 'we kind of got away with that," the Chelsea boss was reported as saying.
Lampard said the way the game played out was not part of the plan, and more so the manner that the match reached its conclusion.
"We nearly won it, nearly lost it. It was end to end, not that we wanted it to be," the Blues coach was reported by Metro as saying.
He maintained, the gameplay should and could have been a lot better.
"We gave away too many chances. We missed a lot as well. That's something we're doing a lot of at the minute - not putting our chances away," Lampard said.
Team captain Cesar Azpilicueta totally agreed with the assessment given by his coach. He allowed that the Blues must work harder on how to play better and have a tighter grip on the happenings on the pitch.
"We didn't manage [the game] well. We had a good reaction to the first goal but when we were 2-1 up we should have created more danger, more chances," said the Blues skipper.
