FRANK LAMPARD challenged the character of his Chelsea stars after they crashed to defeat and failed to concede a single foul against West Ham.
The Blues boss admitted his team have questions to answer after their limp display as the Hammers claimed a 1-0 win at Stamford Bridge – their first win in two months.
It is the first time since stats company Opta started collating records in 2003 that Chelsea have gone through a match without giving away any free-kicks.
And Lampard says his emerging squad now need to show what they are made of against Aston Villa on Wednesday.
He said: “I still believe in the squad.
“But when you look at it today, we made some changes and we didn’t perform as well as we wanted to.
“That will be questions that are asked of us from the outside. It’s questions I will want asked for myself from the inside.
“We have shown some great stuff this season. I haven’t had to sit here many times and say: ‘We were below par today.’ Hardly at all.
“Today was one of those days.
“I don’t think it’s any time for harsh reactions and judgements across individuals or the team.
“It’s time for a look at a bit of character to see how our reaction is for Aston Villa.”
Tammy Abraham missed out through injury, but Lampard put Willian, N’Golo Kante, Cesar Azpilicueta and Andreas Christensen on the bench from the side who started the Champions League clash with Valencia.
The Blues boss said: “I had to think about the squad.
“When we have a really taxing game where we give everything physically and arrive back late, I have to think about how fresh we can be.
“We’re not going to get through this season with the same 10 or 11 players.
“The team that we had out there for sure has the quality to win this game.
“The fact that we performed below par is the reason that we didn’t.
“When these moments come, they are little tests for all of us and we have to pass them.”
