Jody
Morris insists Frank Lampard is perfectly prepared to play the "bad cop"
role as Chelsea boss.
Assistant coach Morris hailed manager Lampard's drive to improve individual
players and his will to win at Chelsea - maintaining that the ex-England
midfielder is happy to lay down the Stamford Bridge law.
Lampard is enduring his first tricky spell as Chelsea boss, with the Blues
struggling for form and fluency at home.
Chelsea will bid to shake off consecutive home losses when hosting
Nottingham Forest in the FA Cup on Sunday, with Morris confident the Blues
can quickly hit back to top form.
"We are different personalities, but there have certainly been moments when
he's 100 per cent the bad cop," said Morris, when quizzed on his and
Lampard's coaching dynamic.
"Maybe I'm just a bit more of a moody face than he is on the touchline!
"I think there's elements where things need to be said, and 99 per cent of
the time it's him that says it.
"You have to take the players individually at times when you have to weigh
up how you would treat them and I certainly know the manager does that.
"He has close relationships with some of them. But if he has to give some of
them a kick up the backside he has no problem doing it.
"We are in a man's game, we're in a big competition week in week out and you
do need to come under the umbrella of being a first-team player now and that
you have to perform.
"And I think they have been (performing) to be honest."
Frustrating home losses to Bournemouth and Southampton blotted a productive
Christmas period on the road, with Chelsea pulling off fine wins at
Tottenham and Arsenal.
Morris knows Chelsea must up the ante at home however, insisting Lampard is
focused on far more than just results in his coaching demands.
"The results would maybe point towards it being his first test as a
manager," said Morris.
"But we've had moments when we've been winning games where we've been just
as frustrated.
"And he's one of those that he lives and breathes it. Last night we were
getting text messages about 'look at this, look at that'.
"He's passionate about improving players, he's passionate about winning. But
it's not just the results that might push him to being frustrated.
"I remember spells at Derby where we were winning games but certain things
we were asking for weren't being carried out.
"So he's a deep thinker and he wants to come up with ways to help players
individually and as a group."
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