Frank Lampard gives ‘spot on’ verdict on state of Chelsea under Pochettino

The former Chelsea and England midfielder referred to his own experience of managing the Premier League club.

In the episode, Lampard told Dugmore: "I said it quite a lot when I was there and people threw it back at me a bit but standards hadn't been good enough.

"You have to have a level of standards to be a top club and I didn't see it there."

The 45-year-old was manager of Chelsea from 2019 to 2021, and returned as caretaker manager for the last two months of the 2023 season.

Speaking about the current Chelsea boss, Lampard said: "I think you've got to be very careful when pointing fingers at the manager himself, or at a young player trying to find form in a team that hasn't really got experience or players for him to look up to.

"In my day when you brought in younger players, they sat on the bench and watched Didier Drogba train or watched how John Terry led the club. So to ask a lot of young players to come in now and develop quickly is not an easy thing.

"The strategy, of course, will be questioned and there's probably things that have been done that you can question. It's about getting it right now but it's a process."

Lampard also spoke honestly about recent criticism of Manchester United and England star Marcus Rashford, after he was pictured on a night out in Belfast and missed training due to illness the following day.

The Champions League winner expressed sympathy for the 26-year-old, and declared that fans are "asking a lot" for footballers not to go out and enjoy themselves.

He told Dugmore: “A few things have changed, because the lads probably can’t go out now, if they do they get photoed. They probably should be more careful.

“But you’re asking a lot – young lad’s got to live his life. But maybe they are more careful nowadays and live their lives a bit differently.”

The conversation around the 26-year-old England star led to a further discussion around lad culture, and the differences between Lampard's playing days and today.

On the subject of some player's partying ways, Lampard said that there is always "gonna be a couple who like a few more beers than the others."

He added: "As much as we have social media now, the News of the World would love to create this thing of ‘oh there’s this going on.’ That wasn’t always the case.

"We were all good lads trying to do well for our country.”

You can listen to the full episode here.

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