Frank Lampard: Chelsea Needs a Figure like Virgil van Dijk

DBasia.news – Anticipating a dead ball has become Chelsea’s weakness of defense this season. Coach Frank Lampard has also dreamt of Virgil van Dijk.

Anticipating a dead ball becomes Chelsea’s weakness of defense this season. No wonder that Lampard has revealed his dream to have a player like Virgil van Dijk in his squad.

The rearguard returned to the spotlight after Chelsea lost 2-3 to West Ham United in the mid of last week. In that match, the Chelsea goalkeeper collapsed twice from a corner kick. Luckily the first goal was disallowed as it was rated offside by VAR.

Dismantling the back line is said to be a major concern of Chelsea in the summer transfer market. Of course Lampard didn’t want to just bring in a new player.

“We are looking at the set-play this season. We are looking at statistics from last season and we are at the bottom of the league in a set piece situation,” Lampard said as quoted by Goal.

“While other teams have a great chance against us. We are also ranked second lowest in attacking,” Lampard added.

Faced with this situation, Lampard made the rapid increase experienced by Liverpool as an example. Lampard saw how Liverpool changed after having Virgil van Dijk.

“I think this is the same as Liverpool. Many people judge their dead ball two or three seasons ago, they conceded many goals,” stated Lampard.

“They then recruited Virgil van Dijk and he threw out everything that went into the penalty box. Making it difficult for other teams to score is the main thing.”

This season Chelsea are the team with the highest level of conceding among the top four Premier League teams with 44 goals. Compared with Liverpool who have conceded only 22 times, Manchester City (33) and Leicester City (31) from 32 matches that have been played.