Ex-Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho was critical of his former player, Frank Lampard, taking issue with the first team selected by the current Blues boss in today’s 4-0 rout at the hands of Manchester United.
The Special One, now working as a pundit for Sky Sports, said that Lampard should have gone with a more experienced side at the start of the season opener. And the Chelsea managerial debutant has hit back at his former boss by rejecting that idea, and saying that the more established and seasoned players simply weren’t fit and/or available.
“My feeling is that today they had a possibility to play with more know-how,” Mourinho said.
“[Marcos] Alonso was on the bench, Kante was on the bench, Giroud was on the bench, and to come to Old Trafford, even if this is not the huge Manchester United that used to scare people, it’s Manchester United. It’s the first match at home, the first match of the season, people are excited, the stadium is on fire waiting for something positive.”
“A little bit of experience [from Chelsea] would fit well with the team. You look to the performance of Mason Mount, the performance of Tammy Abraham, you look to the performance even of [Andreas] Christensen and for matches of this dimension you need a little bit more.”
Lampard discredited this take maintaining that N’Golo Kante, Olivier Giroud and Willian were not available to play starter minutes today. Of course this still doesn’t explain why he didn’t start the $73 million January signing, winger Christian Pulisic.
The 20-year-old American didn’t come on until the 58′, when he was subbed on for Ross Barkley in the left side of the midfield. His Premier League debut didn’t come even remotely close to living up to the hype that preceded it.
“I can’t drag people out of the medical room, whether they’re experienced or not,” Lampard said of his starting XI, and why he choose it.
“The players we played today, and on the bench, are the players we have. We were clearly the better team for 45 or even 60 minutes but we made individual errors that led to four goals from five shots. That’s the harsh reality.”
“I don’t have to be too concerned about what anyone else says — the pundits — but what is clear is the squad is the squad we’ve got and I believe in it.”
“Had we gone in at half-time 2-1 or 3-1 up, which we should have done, the game would have been completely different.”
It’s also worth noting that Mourinho also hit out at the victors in this match, the last club that he worked for, as United sacked him in December. Mourinho said that Manchester City’s “B Team” could beat United’s strongest side.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” regularly appears on WGN CLTV and co-hosts the “Let’s Get Weird, Sports” podcast on SB Nation.
You can follow Banks, a former writer for NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com on Twitter here and his cat on Instagram at this link.