Frank Lampard had seen the warning signs. Chelsea may have been two goals in front at half-time against Sheffield United on Saturday but the head coach was not overly pleased with his team’s performance and said that he had told his players that the game was far from decided.
Then the visitors scored a minute after the restart, proving his point, and from that moment onwards Chris Wilder's visiting side grew in confidence, earning a deserved share of the spoils in the final minute.
Only Lampard and his players will know why they failed to heed his caution but, troublingly, lapses in concentration are becoming a habit.
“I saw it coming,” Lampard said. “If we were to go out and make a mistake or play how we were playing … it wasn’t bad, the first half, but I felt there were signs that we needed to tighten up.
“I wasn’t happy with the first half. They had gifted us two goals. Our performance was OK. We were in a dangerous position. It wasn’t a happy half-time. The warning signs were there in my opinion and we didn’t react to that on the pitch.”
Had he picked out a couple of performances in particular at the interval?
“No, it was general,” he added. “We had to move the ball quicker. We were taking too much time. We worked a lot on Sheffield United, their style of play and how we could move the ball to give them problems. I don’t think we were doing that enough and that was a contributing factor to me feeling we were a bit slow in possession.”
There is an obvious pattern through the five competitive games Lampard has been in charge for. In attack Chelsea have looked bright in patches but focused has slipped in defence at pivotal moments and they have been duly punished.
Of the 11 goals conceded, eight have come in the second half - pointing further to strong starts that are not being converted into tangible results.
Lampard does not feel that is down to his young players being unable to maintain their concentration but the return of senior figures Antonio Rudiger and N’Golo Kante after the international break will provide a significant boost.
“I don’t want to say it’s inevitable but we are obviously having those issues and it’s not just on the young players. It’s all of us. We need to resolve it.
“I don’t know about more support [for the younger players]. Every one has different reasons. Young players have to grow up and worry about themselves but Kante will obviously help because he is world class.”
On a more positive note Tammy Abraham was again impressive, following up his two goals against Norwich City with another brace on Saturday.
“I’m delighted with Tammy, delighted with his attitude,” Lampard added. “He has a really great attitude in training and desire to score. His all-round game as well. We’ve been working really closely with Tammy on little bits of his game that can be even better.
“He is really receptive to that and I thought the performance was class, he was really unlucky not to have three.”
The striker was not called into Gareth Southgate’s England squad for the games against Bulgaria and Kosovo. Although Lampard would like for his young players to be given international recognition, an opportunity for Abraham to have a brief rest is valuable.
“I’d have loved it for him but at the same time he can get some work in, take a bit of a breather. It’s been constant for the younger players and England will come calling.”
