Expectations are too high from Lampard’s Chelsea, says Marcel Desailly

Chelsea

’s defeat against

on Tuesday marked the team’s first back-to-back league defeats for the first time since December 2019. Lampard’s team had also lost their previous week’s match against Everton and have been criticized for their inconsistent performances during the recent weeks. The team’s defeats were the reason that Chelsea’s gap with

in the table increased to six points. As Lampard’s team have been dropped from the table’s top four,

Marcel Desailly

believes that Chelsea are moving in the right direction and need time to fully develop their form.

"He is coping well with the finances he has and he has just topped up the squad to fill gaps for the first time,"

Desailly told

Goal. "He has also readjusted his defence.

"It was needed - and Kante is coming back from injury. Kante plays every week and he has brought stability but it is not enough. He is not a difference-maker going forward. 

"I am just happy we have hope with Lampard. We could achieve second in the league in the hope that we can eventually win it. I don’t think it is a problem not to win it but you feel like Chelsea will be around the conversation and it is the same for the Champions League.

"He hasn’t got an established team that Carlo Ancelotti and Jose Mourinho had where you felt they had to win the Premier League or Champions League. You expected it then but you are not expecting it at this time.

"I feel Lampard is doing well because the hope is there. It isn’t easy these days with the transfer market the way it is; you need to create a philosophy around a coach. I hope he has a third one and people need to believe in him and his new players.

"They lost Eden Hazard, that was a big blow. It is a matter of time and there’s so much investment from the other clubs that it is difficult to know when Chelsea will be able to win the league or Champions League. It may take more than two years."

Asked about the team’s new signing

, Desailly responded:

"I was scared about him coming at the beginning but mentally he was strong enough to handle his mistake against West Brom," he added. "He is a leader, a former captain in Paris, but in France they say that he just fell short in the later rounds of the Champions League.

"Let’s see, he has fit well in the system and performed but we have to hope that he doesn’t get injured. At 36, as soon as you have an injury, then it is difficult to overcome."

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