Chelsea legend Frank Lampard has called on his former club to strengthen after pointing out the glaring disparity in the size of Antonio Conte's squad compared to Arsenal in Sunday's shootout defeat. Arsenal won the 1st trophy of the 2017-18 season on penalties after an entertaining&controversial Community Shield clash at Wembley, after Sead Kolasinac's header cancelled out Victor Moses' opener.
Lampard is convinced that Chelsea ought to have kept hold of Nemanja Matic this summer given his role in the club's title-winning season. Prior to the game at Wembley, Lampard - in his new role as a BT Sport pundit - picked up the matchday programme&said:
'You look at the 2 teams there,&Chelsea have got almost half of what the Arsenal squad is. 'If we're talking about quality, I still think Chelsea have that quality, but when Conte was at Juventus he used to do the same thing in the summer. He used to push the club to buy more players to move forward. 'I think he's concerned as he's going to lose [Diego] Costa, they've lost Matic. They've brought players in but I think he wants more because now they're going to be fighting on the Champions League front.
'It was a strange one [to see Matic go to United]. He was such a huge part of Chelsea's play last year alongside Kante at the base. He let the wing-backs fly on&he allowed Pedro&Willian freedom to go forward.'
Kolasinac's leveller came after Pedro was surprisingly sent off for a tackle on Mohamed Elneny, with the resulting free-kick from Granit Xhaka finding the head of the debutant with 8mins remaining. In the penalty shoot out, Thibaut Courtois surprisingly took Chelsea's 2nd kick&blasted it over, while £70.6M striker Alvaro Morata hit the post, allowing both Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain&Olivier Giroud to score in the new 'ABBA' shootout system.
Lampard added afterwards: 'I think the whispers coming out of Chelsea has been slightly negative. The performance was average, rusty in the 1st-half, only glimpses in the 2nd half. I don't know why Courtois was taking the penalty. But they'll have to come back next week. 'It's not a tactical move, but I'm sure Conte can go to the board&say he needs more players.
They need another CM,&they need cover in the wing-back roles. 'I was slightly concerned anyway as this game came early, but barring the goal, they defend the box better than anyone in the league. Morata needs to show it. I'm sure Chelsea will be in the run-in, but it's too early to say they'll win the league.'
Glenn Hoddle agreed with Lampard's assessment&believes the Chelsea manager can use the set-back to strengthen his squad before the August 31 deadline.
'The result isn't bad for Conte as he can now go to the board&say we need to strengthen. 'I think they need to develop another system. Conte needs to come with a 4-3-3 or go back to something different so that they're not readable. 'He was given a bonus for winning the league, but there's something not quite right there. This is a good result for Conte.
In the middle of the week he can go to the board&say, "I don't have a bench to call upon". 'Arsenal would have a stronger bench than Chelsea when everyone's back. If you want to contend for the league, they'll have to strengthen.'
