Lampard: Slump has hit hard

Chelsea stalwart Frank Lampard has made the stunning admission that the Blues have lost all confidence in their ability to win.

Chelsea are a shadow of the side that claimed the English Premier League and FA Cup double last season, with just one win from their past nine fixtures.

The slump, which coincides with the sacking of popular assistant manager Ray Wilkins, has seen the Blues fall to fifth on the table, nine points adrift of league leaders Manchester United.

The pressure on Chelsea is so great that manager Carlo Ancelotti’s future is uncertain, unthinkable early in the season when Chelsea won nine of their first 12 games and looked set to repeat as league champions.

In a further worrying sign for Ancelotti, Lampard said the feeling in the Blues’ dressing room is similar to the final days of former boss Luiz Felipe Scolari’s tenure at Stamford Bridge.

“At the moment there’s a bit of a feeling that we’re not sure what’s going to happen when we go out there,” Lampard told The Sun.

“If we’re honest we all think that. That’s just the way it is. You can’t help that. It won’t change anyone’s determination to want to win but you can’t help but feel it as we haven’t been winning.”

“The end of Scolari’s reign was a bit like this. You lose the feeling of being able to win every week. Once you’ve had that and lose it, it’s hard to get it back.”

“We need to work in the same direction, follow the manager and, if we do, I believe it will turn. If we don’t, it won’t.”

“This is a bad moment, make no mistake about it. We don’t have to hide it any more. It has been a long enough time.”

Lampard also refused to blame Wilkins’ sacking for Chelsea’s slump, saying the Blues still have the quality to match it with the best sides in the Premier League.

“We won the double last year, all of us together including Ray,” he said.

“Ray is no longer here. But the club makes the decisions and, if (owner) Roman Abramovich wasn’t here, we wouldn’t have won three Premier League titles.”

“Things are important off the pitch but we’ve been putting out a side good enough to beat teams we’ve lost against.”

“What we can’t do as individuals is use what happened to Ray as an excuse. We have to perform regardless.”