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Chelsea interim boss Frank Lampard has called for the club and it’s fans to be ‘passionate together’ amid recent discontent.
Following their 2-1 defeat to Brighton, angry Blues fans could be seen confronting co-owner Todd Boehly in the stands.
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Lampard understands why Chelsea fans are so passionate, but insists there’s plenty of passion within the club
The west London side fell to their 12th Premier League defeat of the season, a result that leaves them 11th in the table.
Boehly’s first season as owner has not gone to plan to say the least, but interim boss Lampard believes they’re still in the early stages of a new era at the club.
“With regard to the ownership and fans, passion goes both ways,” he said ahead of their Champions League clash against Real Madrid, live on talkSPORT.
“The fans show passion and I don’t think the owners or anybody who comes to Chelsea expect anything else.
“The fans have complete passion and want the club to do well and we have been fortunate enough that the club has been successful over the last 20 years or so. That means you want more of it. I don’t think anybody needs schooling on that.
“I think it is clear and also the word passion is coming from both sides. These are passionate owners who want to bring a real vision to the club and we are probably the early stage of the process in those terms.
“Again, I keep being asked a lot of the same sort of stuff but when you look at processes in the Premier League and we want to rise and stay the very top and at the moment we are just off that level.
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Chelsea were outplayed by Brighton at Stamford Bridge
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“People always question everything in the beginning and the early stages and at any part of the process. There is an important stage with the way we are working – we just want to get our heads down and get on with the things in front of us.
“Passion and that is normal. I don’t think it is a problem. I certainly don’t find it is a problem. We can all be passionate together and work in the same direction to get where we want to be.”
Chelsea welcome the visit of Madrid on Tuesday night, with the visitors holding a 2-0 aggregate lead from the first leg.
Despite their poor performance last week, Lampard is hopeful the Blues can turn the tie around against the competition holders.
“I think anything is possible, in football anyway. There’s no doubt that we’re a competitive team and we deserve to be here in this stage of the competition.
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Lampard is yet to win on his return as Chelsea boss
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He has refused to play down their chances in the second leg against Madrid
“We also understand that the opponent is really high level, and I think you’ve got to be careful to compare to previous moments or actions or games.
“Fernando Torres running through and rounding the keeper and scoring this amazing goal for Chelsea [against Barcelona in 2012], there’s a big body of work behind that and maybe good, bad and difficult moments.
“That’s a personal thing for Fernando and a was a group thing for us, we’ve lost semi-finals, we’ve lost quarter-finals, we’ve lost the final. So there’s always a lot of back story to it.
“The only thing when you look back on those things is to say that it’s always possible to create that story and start that story, and we do have that opportunity. So I think it’s not worth comparing too much.
“It’s just worth focusing on the here and now with a little understanding that if we get things right, if we work hard, if we do the right things in the game, then anything is possible.”
Source: TalkSport | Read More
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