Frank Lampard has reiterated a key message to his Chelsea group that Mauricio Pochettino himself would be sending them ahead of a daunting trip to the Etihad Stadium on Sunday. Incidentdly, Lampard was the last man to take points off of Pep Guardiola’s side in the league but few are expecting his current team to do so here.
Frank Lampard said: “Some simple things more than detail. To compete in the Premier League you have to have big motivation, big training ethics, big standards at the club or it is very difficult. I kind of knew that anyway because I played here for a long time but unless you have those things the tactical detail and the edge will not matter because no game plan ever works without intensity. That has always been so in football and will do even more so as the game becomes faster.”
It is his second point on intensity that particularly mirrors Pochettino. This is not limited to the Argentine, Jurgen Klopp’s ‘intensity is our identity’ mantra follows suit and Pep Guardiola’s season changing outburst at his City players had a major impact on their mindset for the second half of the season. The best teams have to have a balance of tactical brilliance and physicality but Pochettino has less leeway than most when it comes to most regarding accepting a base level of effort. In just two examples from his other managerial excursions, it is a ket point to be made.
Frank Lampard said: “When you have no focus, it’s not easy to perform. We have the quality to win games but we weren’t focused. When we are focused it showed today what we can do in the first half. Today we had intensity and concentration – we know what we need to do. When you are able to do that, the quality appears. We have tremendous quality and unbelievable players. If we show that intensity, then for sure we will fight for big things.”
Eighteen months later and the same expectations were made clear before taking charge of Paris Saint-Germain. “Every game is different but we need to keep the same intensity and mentality. That only depends on us and the way we go into the game,” said Pochettino. At Chelsea it is a shift of the minds and the bodies that will be a big challenge but Lampard’s parting message is a positive step towards helping his successor.
