Chelsea will welcome 14 times Champions League winners Real Madrid at Stamford Bridge for the quarterfinals second leg fixture of the Champions League on Tuesday.
The Blues were defeated 2-0 by Real Madrid in the first leg at the Santiago Bernabeu. The Blues need to score at least two unanswered goals to qualify for the next stage of the Champions League.
However, Chelsea are winless in their last three games under interim manager Frank Lampard and has scored only once in those matches.
What did Frank Lampard say concerning the fitness of his squad ahead of the Real Madrid clash?
He said at a press conference: “At the minute, it has been mostly conversations and meetings than training pitch stuff.
“Training pitch stuff was all pretty walkthrough and low level because of the [tiredness] in the legs.
“It is more about speaking to the players individually. When we do get the chance to work, I think the team needs some physical work.
“I think that’s important for us because at this level you have to be right on the limit and we are not on the limit right now.
“I think that can be a capacity thing with the players for whatever reason. It doesn’t matter how we got there but it needs to be addressed now.”
On Chelsea’s run of poor results, he added: “I think maybe when some players are lacking confidence then it can be seen as a hunger thing.
“When you are a yard short, you are just a yard short. Or when you are receiving the ball and not confidence, you take your first touch backward.
“That can sometimes feel like a hunger or lack of passion thing but I don’t feel that. I feel like the players are hungry to be successful as Chelsea players.”
Meanwhile, Frank Lampard praises Kepa Arrizabalaga and Conor Gallagher after Chelsea’s defeat to Brighton.
He told BBC Match of the Day: “[It’s] difficult because the scoreline doesn’t flatter them, they could have scored more goals.
“[Brighton] are a very good team first and foremost, they have been working together for a long time and now with the coach and the ideas and the energy and the connection within the team is so good and that’s why they are where they are and we’re not that.
“To get to that will take time, but the first things on the ladder are the basics that we got wrong today. And that can’t be right for us, we have to address that very quickly, because that’s not a Chelsea performance.
“Some of our changes were forced, we needed to spread the minutes. We should have a squad where people are chomping at the bit to make impressions. So we were by no means taking it lightly. This is my first home game on my return so there is no way I would do that. But the result is what it is.
“There is only one way out and that’s to work. Because you come against a team like Brighton who are so good in possession the work side of the game is the crucial one. But for me the level today wasn’t good enough.
“They could have scored more. Kepa was fantastic. Conor Gallagher was another who gave every drop individually. But collectively, as a group, we have to accept it. We have to accept what needs to be done to play for this club and try to win games.
“I’ve been at the club nine days, I don’t like what I saw today. I’m not going to try and dress that up in any way. We have to be really honest about that. There should be a feeling of when you play for Chelsea of pride involved. We have to do more for Tuesday.
“To get there, there needs to be a new energy. That needs to come back.
“At the moment we’re not in the perfect place. In football, you can change the narrative very quickly. We’ll have to have a big desire to do that and it will be a different game.
“It’s not about the club I played for, it’s a different era, even after the time I was manager, other managers have been here and seen success. It’s Chelsea football club, it’s bigger than all of us. We’re not where we want to be, but we have to work like we want to be there tomorrow.”
