Frank
Lampard rued more Chelsea mistakes in defence as their late comeback in the
3-3 draw with West Brom covered up a woeful first-half.
Chelsea found themselves 3-0 down at half-time following three defensive
errors, but fought back in the second half, equalising in the 93rd minute
through Tammy Abraham.
Lampard clearly felt it was a case of two points dropped, with Chelsea
registering 22 shots on goal, but says no matter how much his side create,
mistakes will always cost them.
Lampard told Sky Sports: "It is two points lost in the end - and that's no
disrespect to West Brom. To come here and you know the transition and any
mistakes would be something they would jump on to counter attack against us
- that and set pieces. We spoke before the game, you can't legislate for the
mistakes that there were today. it gives you a difficult game to come back
in.
"I can laud character, because we showed character in persistence, but we
didn't need to if we'd done things properly in the game.
"The first one is a mistake, Marcos heads it into the middle of a pitch. The
Thiago one is a mistake, he's been in the game long enough to know that, and
we'll certainly give him that one in his first game. And then Marcos loses
his man for the third goal from the corner.
"It was mistakes, clear mistakes. You can have as many meetings as you want
but with those mistakes you give yourself a mountain to climb.
"We created two or three great chances in the first half. I felt we would
create more, the only other problem at 3-0 was West Brom were going to
protect their lead more. It is a big lesson for us, a big lesson in the
detail of the game, it doesn't matter how much you create, but we will get a
lot better, we're still finding our way with new players and a lack of
pre-season. Today is part of the process of getting better.
"There is a lot we can keep getting better at. I'm not going to criticise
every part of our game, I think they had three shots on target and got three
goals. There were genuine mistakes. There was nothing tactically you can
analyse again and again - there were just pure mistakes."
Bilic on handball: It's unbelievable
West Brom manager Slaven Bilic, recently banned from the touchline for the
Carabao Cup clash with Brentford in midweek after being sent off for
remonstrating with Mike Dean in the defeat by Everton last weekend, was
again disappointed with the officials on Saturday.
The ball hit Kai Havertz's hand in the build-up to Chelsea's equaliser at
the Hawthorns, but because Havertz's touch did not immediately lead to the
goal, it was not ruled out.
Speaking to
Sky Sports, Bilic said the call was unbelievable.
"It's not that it looks like [a handball] or that it might be a handball,
but what do you want me to do now? To say what I want to say and they fine
me again? It's unbelievable. You have a bunch of guys there who did
everything to win the game, who defended great and to have two points taken
from us in this manor with VAR is completely beyond me.
"I told the guys before the game this is a game of character, a game of
mentality. We can't outclass them but we can out-run them. We can't give
them anything but must grab whatever they give you and create and score
goals. It is a very good performance from us but at the same time we are
extremely disappointed with the outcome. Before the game it is a good point
for us but the way it happened in the dying seconds of the game - it's
unbelievable.
"I've seen a lot of positives, even against Leicester and against Everton in
the first half. We have played against three teams that are really, really
good who are contenders to be top-four, top-five. To have this performance
is a big boost for us but we deserved three points today."
What's next?
West Brom now go to Southampton in the Premier League on Sunday at midday,
while Chelsea are at Tottenham in the Carabao Cup fourth round on Tuesday at
7.45pm, live on Sky Sports Football, before hosting Crystal Palace in the
Premier League on Saturday at 12.30pm.
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