When the season under Lampard began, many thought that Chelsea’s current number 8 would take inspiration from the legendary number 8, our current boss.
However, Barkley has not proven himself worthy of any jersey, let alone the number 8. After being caught in a night brawl a few weeks ago, he has once again been pictured shirtless at a night club. This is a player who is supposed to be recovering from his injury to play for his club.
Lampard has obviously not taken kindly to the player’s unprofessional behaviour.
“I think there are two separate issues,” he said. “One is the headlines this week, Ross knows how I felt about the first headline. I backed him then, I still back him now but he showed a moment of a lack of professionalism as far as I’m concerned.
“And it’s not something that I want to be a pure dictator on and come down hard because I also understand that all my players are humans and have lives and I don’t police every moment of their life.
“So I don’t think it’s a terrible thing that he’s done but all Ross needs to do now, he’s had an injury and he’s still kind of carrying the injury – he still gets a bit of pain on shooting – so he just has to work his way back in.
“In terms of the fitness thing, he trained well and I certainly don’t hold anything against my players. I like Ross, he’s firmly one of my players and I think it was something he needs to show all his reactions on the pitch.”
Is Lampard being too kind on him?
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