Chelsea lacking belief, admits Frank Lampard

Lampard says Chelsea must start believing in themselves again

Frank Lampard has likened Chelsea's current spell of poor form to that experienced ahead of former boss Luiz Felipe Scolari's dismissal in 2009.

The England midfielder admitted: "At the moment, there's a bit of a feeling that we're not sure what's going to happen when we go out there.
"The end of Scolari's reign was a bit like this. You lose the feeling of being able to win every week.
"Once you've had that and lose it, it's hard to get it back."
Current Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti has come under increasing pressure, with his team's form tailing off badly after they made a flying start to the season.
The reigning champions and FA Cup winners have taken only 10 points from their last 11 Premier League games, and have concerns over the depth of their squad, although they did thrash Ipswich 7-0 in the FA Cup last weekend.
The drop in form has been apparent since the club told Ray Wilkins he was no longer needed but Lampard, 32, refused to blame the coach's departure in November for a sequence that has seen them slip nine points behind leaders Manchester United having played a game more.
 "We won The Double last year, all of us together including Ray. Ray is no longer here.


"But the club makes the decisions and, if [owner] Roman Abramovich wasn't here, we wouldn't have won three Premier League titles.
"Things are important off the pitch but we've been putting out a side good enough to beat teams we've lost against.
"What we can't do as individuals is use what happened to Ray as an excuse. We have to perform regardless."
Speaking ahead of Saturday's Premier League clash against Blackburn, Lampard added of Chelsea's current lack of confidence: "If we're honest we all think that. That's just the way it is. You can't help that.
"It won't change anyone's determination to want to win but you can't help but feel it as we haven't been winning.
"We need to work in the same direction, follow the manager and, if we do, I believe it will turn. If we don't, it won't.
"This is a bad moment, make no mistake about it. We don't have to hide it any more. It has been a long enough time