football.london takes a look at the four things learned from Chelsea's defeat to Arsenal in the Premier League.
Frank Lampard finding it harder to defend players
Chelsea's caretaker manage has been kinder in his assessments than many in recent weeks. He certainly could have been harsher following defeat to Brentford, and understandably did not overly lay into the squad in the early part of his tenure, despite what his demeanour often suggested.
The 44-year-old had little defence of Chelsea's first half against Arsenal, however. Lampard's frustration was evident in his tone.
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He said: "The first half performance was not good enough, in every way. We were nice to play against in every way, nice off the ball, passive. Things we spoke about before the game defensively we didn't do. We didn't restrict space between the lines, we didn't get the line up as much as we didn't do, we didn't pressure the ball, we didn't make contact with Arsenal players.
"Then on the ball, same. Passing short, passing to ourselves in bad position, not playing longer, not making forwards runs, things that we talked about. Play like that, you get what you get."
Those characteristics have been too present in Chelsea's play at times this season, and having now lost six games in a row it feels like there will be a challenge to overcome it. Lampard has noted he is becoming more 'practical' in his work in charge of Chelsea. Perhaps not soon enough.
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Fitness not the only issue
Upon his appointment, Lampard identified early that the squad's capacity to perform it's duties was not enough. They did not have the fitness to play how they were required.
The caretaker manager was afforded little opportunity to build his side's stamina immediately upon returning to Stamford Bridge, such was the fixture schedule. However, with only two games in two weeks, there has been more opportunity to work on the training pitch and it will be frustrating for the Blues boss to not see the benefit.
Lampard again pointed to fitness as an issue in terms of the players being unable to show the necessary aggression on the pitch.
He explained: "It is a basic. It's two things. I think it's a mental desire, to get up to people. It also starts with the capacity to be able to do it. If you haven't been conditioning and doing that and doing that and you don't do it on Wednesday, don't do it on Thursday, you won't do it on Saturday or whatever day you want to talk about. When those things become you as a group, they don't change overnight and we're seeing that at the moment."
While the players' capacity may come into question, during the first 45 minutes their ability to want to compete also did. The inclination to challenge Arsenal in possession and to then take the game to them was simply not apparent.
Noni Madueke offers the blueprint
It was difficult to feel any positivity given the manner of Chelsea's defeat but Noni Madueke tried to find some. The Blues struggled to produce or find the young winger and Madueke did his best early to create something himself.
Aubameyang should have done better from one of his passes, while the England under-21 international showed some persistence in the second period to work up and down the right flank. The former PSV star was worth his goal, as he took advantage of the space he earned behind Oleksandar Zincheko before smartly finishing.
Lampard included the youngster due to the quality of his work on the training pitch and must do that with others moving forward. Madueke should start against Bournemouth and if other young players or new signings impress before facing the Cherries, it should be those players that are relied upon.
Chelsea's boss plans to see more.
He said: "Now it's the question of five games to compete with each other, like Noni did tonight in his performance from two weeks of good training, to show you deserve to be in the team. Those should be the rules anyway: now or never. People say there's nothing on these games but they're wrong. Every individual has a lot on these games."
It's time for Lampard to make use of more players in similar situations, despite the risks. It doesn't often feel like things could get much worse at the moment.
Worrying reactions
Chelsea are struggling to sustain one on the pitch at the moment, against Arsenal, in many respects there wasn't one. The second half performance was improved but far from stellar and only came as Arsenal took their foot off the gas for the final half hour. Lampard noted that his half-time team talk included aspects that had been discussed ahead of the game, so on the face of it, there's little reason to not have implemented the actions from kick off.
It's not necessarily a question of not caring but there are worrying signs on the pitch. There was no reaction as Arsenal produced the same goal twice in a row with passes from Granit Xhaka to Martin Odegaard. The 24-year-old's second goal saw the Dane pull away from Chilwell, onto the shoulder of Raheem Sterling before attacking the ball towards Thiago Silva, with his freedom leaving plenty of hands in the air around the backline.
With Chelsea 2-0 down, Ben Chilwell and Thiago Silva were soon into a furious discussion with some forceful gestures. Enzo Fernandez joined, seemingly to calm things down but the World Cup winner also seemed to be involved as the team tried to dissect their failures.
By the time of the third goal, the reaction was muted. Players trudged to their positions and even an aggressive player in Wesley Fofana could only sink into disappointment. The Frenchman slowly raised from his haunches to lie against the post and take it all in.
In recent weeks, seeing Chelsea players deliberate their positions and discussing tactics on the field has appeared more frequently. While Lampard attempts to work out the best system with each game, the players on the pitch are still working out playing together.
Conversations occur in abundance, with Wesley Fofana and Cesar Azpilcueta also in discussion, while Silva could not hide his frustration with the lack of movement ahead of him as he brought the ball upfield and almost shrugged as he did so. Fofana was left frustrated when substituted towards full time.
It's not say the squad don't care, but at the moment the focus of energy is not proving helpful.
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