Arsenal’s comeback to win the FA Cup denied Frank Lampard a trophy in his first season as Chelsea boss.
Lampard identified four key factors in the defeat at Wembley, where Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang scored twice for the Gunners after Christian Pulisic’s goal had given the Blues the perfect start.
Pulisic later went off with a hamstring injury, as did Cesar Azpilicueta, and the controversial sending-off of Mateo Kovacic in the second half was another blow for Chelsea on a day to forget for Lampard, who gave a blunt assessment of the game in his post-match press conference.
Getting ‘sloppy’ after taking the lead
“We had a great start and had control of the game. From that point we got sloppy and not take that control and ram it home and keep doing the right things.
“We got slower in our game and it changed the tone of it and it’s hard to get it back.”
Circumstances ‘conspiring against’ Chelsea
“It wasn’t a sending-off. That was pretty clear.
“There were certain circumstances in the game that definitely conspired against us. But in terms of football, knowing us, we didn’t play well enough.
“We didn’t play well enough. We know that in the dressing room. But we go into the game, Willian pulls out in the last 24 hours or so, same as Ruben Loftus-Cheek, two hamstrings and a dislocated shoulder maybe with Pedro.”
Fatigue
“It’s been a busy period for us. The players have given everything and 10 men in the last 20 minutes was a really difficult challenge for them.”
Failure to deal with long balls to Aubameyang
“He scores two goals, one being a penalty which he earned.
“We were very clear with the players about the threat – Arsenal play long balls behind you. They play football as well but they also have the threat of a long ball behind you.
“The frustrating part is when you know you show that a lot to the players and work on it and we allow him in easily.”
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