Frank Lampard on Krasnodar Win, Penalties & Hakim Ziyech's First Chelsea Start

29 October 2020

After two consecutive 0-0 draws, Chelsea got back to winning ways on Wednesday as they roared to a 4-0 win over Russian side Krasnodar in the Champions League.

It wasn't always pretty, but a first-half goal from Callum Hudson-Odoi and late strikes from Timo Werner, Hakim Ziyech and Christian Pulisic were enough to get the job done for Frank Lampard's side.

Here's what the boss had to say after the game (via football.london).

On Ziyech's Performance

Ziyech was the star of the show for Chelsea and managed to grab his first goal for the club with an impressive finish from inside the box late on.

"I thought his performance was very very good when you consider he hasn’t started a match since March when the Dutch league finished. So I have been very excited to get him on the pitch so it has been frustration for me and for him and us that his injury hasn’t allowed him to start.

"But what I have seen in training so far and what I knew we were signing as a player was a player with immense quality and personality to receive the ball, assists and find goals. We saw a lot of glimpses of that today. We brought him in to do a job and maybe people have forgotten a bit because we signed him in January and he missed the start of the season. Tonight, he certainly showed he is here."

On Who Will Take Penalties Going Forward

Jorginho missed from the spot again | KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEV/Getty Images

Regular penalty taker Jorginho, who missed a penalty against Liverpool in September, struck the post with an effort from the spot in the first half. By the time the Blues were awarded a second penalty, he was already off the pitch, so Werner stepped up and made no mistake.

"Jorginho has had an incredibly successful rate of scoring penalties in his career, particularly at Chelsea. My feeling is that when you take as many penalties as he does there can be periods when you can miss one or two. I've experienced that as a player.

"I've no problem at all with his style of taking them because of the success he has had and Timo Werner I know is very capable of taking penalties, as we saw. We have other players that can so I'll talk with them afterwards to see how we move forward but we have good takers at the club."

On Antonio Rüdiger's Return

Rudiger had been out in the cold this season | MB Media/Getty Images

Centre-back Antonio Rüdiger made his first appearance of the season against Krasnodar, impressing from the start and helping Chelsea keep a third consecutive clean sheet.

"I am very pleased today with the performance of Rüdiger and Kurt Zouma. They can take credit for the clean sheet amongst other players. I didn’t have doubts over Toni. His training and professionalism has been very clear from the beginning since I have been here and certainly in recent weeks. I was very pleased with his concentration levels and the whole back four and five with Mendy as well.

"The concentration levels to have the desire to keep a clean sheet. Going forward, we need more than two centre backs. We have Thiago Silva at home and we have [Fikayo] Tomori and [Andreas] Christensen in the squad. It is not easy to keep five centre backs happy but we need the levels of competition that we saw on the pitch today to keep moving forward."

On Playing in Front of Roman Abramovich

Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich was in attendance against Krasnodar, having not been seen at a Blues game in what feels like an eternity after being denied a visa to live in England.

"I was aware that he was at the game which always makes us happy. I always feel the support of the owner whether he is here at games or not. To have him here is a nice bonus for myself and the squad, we are very respectful of him, of course.

"I didn’t manage to see him because before the game I was in the dressing room and a few of my staff members came to talk to him and by the time I was at the warm up, he wasn’t around. I am very pleased we put on what I thought was a good performance with four goals and a clean sheet in his home country. So I hope it made him happy."

On Callum Hudson-Odoi's Good Showing

After struggling for minutes in Chelsea's last three games, Hudson-Odoi was given the nod from the start against Krasnodar and bagged a scruffy opening goal.

"The goal is clearly going to be good for his confidence. There were things I liked in his game today. His desire to run in behind the defence. Sometimes one-on-one, it didn't go his way but I'm very pleased that when you play in the Champions League and get your goal.

"I know the feeling of confidence it can give him. In terms of his injury, it hasn't been flagged to me after the match that there is a problem so I assume and hope there is nothing wrong. I'm just pleased he had a good evening.

"He's trained very well recently, we have competition in those areas and we're also in the middle of a very busy patch of games so we need input from all the attacking players. We felt that today with Callum getting his goal, Hakim and Christian coming on for his goal. I was very pleased with those parts of our game."

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Source: 90min