What Lampard has already said on Mount, Havertz & Potter underperformers

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Frank Lampard's return to Chelsea was not expected when Graham Potter was sacked on Sunday night. It was not feasible when Thomas Tuchel departed in September 2022. Very few ever thought he'd be in the Chelsea home dugout again when he was sacked in January 2021. Yet here we are.

"But also the training ground, the stadium, the fans, what Chelsea fans want and I'll do my upmost in this period to give them what they want with my own hard work." That is Lampard through and through, Chelsea through and through. It is a strange atmosphere though.

Mount is the obvious starting point given his development under the coach. His parting message was simply: "I learned so much from you both. Thank you for everything."

Since then he has further explained the connection they formed. "He's had a massive influence," Mount said. "Obviously the faith he put in me, to bring me to Derby first of all, was invaluable. That experience in the Championship really, really helped me and then going back to Chelsea the faith me showed in me to play me, even in the tough times to stick with me, gave me a lot of confidence.

"And, yeah, we'll always stay in contact. I message him now and then. He's obviously a busy man but we message and the amount of support he's given me has really helped me improve as a player and as a person off the pitch. It's all thanks to him."

“That’s why, when you’re playing that midfield, he has to play in this team. He’s the best attacking midfielder in terms of pressing and jumping from midfield to win the ball back.”

"With Timo and Kai, there was clearly going to be adaptation issues. I know that from being in it because they were shocked at the speed of training, they were shocked by the physical demands of the game," Lampard said of Havertz and Werner in 2020. "I remember Eden Hazard’s first year at Chelsea, he went on to be one of Chelsea’s best-ever players, but you looked at him in pre-season strolling around.

"Pretty much any player goes through those periods. Timo and Kai had that in the early days, Kai had terrible Covid as well which set him back quite a lot." Havertz never truly kicked on under Lampard and even for Tuchel he was inconsistent. Potter couldn't get more output from him either.

Lampard tried the German out as a deep midfielder, winger and No10 though he has been deployed more as a striker of late. "From working with Kai, desire is absolutely not any part of the issue," Lampard said in response to criticism of his attitude and languid playstyle.

"He has an absolute clear talent. He has a style where if things aren’t coming off people want to jump on, I have seen that in some amazing players over the years. But let me tell you, his desire, the ground he covers in games, is big. The numbers and the data are big.

"Is his confidence at this minute as right as it can be or will be? No, because he’s having a tough moment, as are other members of the squad. I can make comparisons to players who were here at a similar age to Kai: Kevin De Bruyne and Mo Salah. They went away, took time and came back and now they are absolute Premier League legends.

"I don’t want to build Kai up and put pressure on his shoulders, but with young players coming to this league people have to give them time and patience, and sometimes a little bit of wriggle room.

"It’s not that everything will happen in a few months or in one performance. In an ideal world we would be playing better as a team and you could just stick Kai in when everything is good. It’s not like that, but I definitely want to put to bed anything about a lack of desire.

"I know him well, he’s a good lad, and my job is to coach him like I coached the young players who came through last year and made real names for themselves, and to give him confidence and show my absolute support for him."

“He can find a pass and sometimes last season I felt we lacked that when we were playing against low-block defences,” the ex-Everton man said. “We saw a bit of his quality and personality against Krasnodar. The idea of receiving the ball and turning, facing forward and finding that pass before teams are set, that is what I’m excited about to see from Hakim.

“I really like him as a personality. I had conversations with him very early when we signed him and was struck by his confidence. There is an inner confidence which I love. We need players with confidence and personality who believe they should be here. He has been an absolute dream to work with.

“People always think that personality is about getting your foot in, shouting and fighting to the end,” he said. “Of course you require that in football, but sometimes personality is receiving the ball in tight areas when others don’t want to and make things happen … Hakim showed that and part of the reason he settled is because of his mindset.”

Lampard will be hoping to get the best of these three and the rest of the giant squad he has inherited as Chelsea face Wolves at Molinuex on Saturday afternoon.

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