Lampard insists Chelsea still in ‘pre-season’ mode

Frank Lampard said Chelsea are still in ‘pre-season’ mode after losing to Tottenham in the EFL Cup on Wednesday.

The Blues only finished last season on August 8 when they lost to Bayern Munich in the Champions League.

And Lampard says his players are still getting up to speed in the new campaign.

“Games at the minute, it is unfortunate to say it because the season has started, but we’re not in full mode, we’re in pre-season mode,” Lampard said.

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“We’ve got new players and not fit players. We had one week’s pre-season going into [the first game of the season against] Brighton. We’re in that position and it is difficult.

“I think you’re seeing that with all the teams which stayed in Europe for those extra weeks, we had the FA Cup [final] and then Europe and we had to start like everybody else. I think you could see that a bit in the second half.”