Frank Lampard: Fear held the teams back

Frank Lampard believes that the fear of losing to a title rival held both teams back and prevented them from putting their best foot forward, as Chelsea and Manchester United drew 0-0 at Old Trafford.

Frank Lampard of Chelsea. (Photo by Jamie McDonald/Getty Images)

The midfielder claimed that the importance of such a game left little room for error from either side.

“It was tense. People talk about big decider games early in the season and neither team wants to lose. It was a bit of a stalemate in those terms”, Sky Sports 1 quoted him as saying.

Lampard’s team-mate and captain John Terry agreed, saying, “Neither of us had too many chances to win the game. I think both teams looked solid and it’s obviously a great point for us away from home.

“It’s a tough place to come. It’s out of the way and we move on now. I think both midfields and attacks cancelled each other out a bit and neither team wanted to lose the game so early on in the season.”

Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho had concerns about the lack of cohesion between his team’s forwards and defence.

“I think the result is fair,” Mourinho said. “I think nobody did enough to be better than the opponents.

“I think we controlled the game for most of the time, for a match at Old Trafford we didn’t have real problems but going from defensive situations to attacking situations was not the best.

“There are very fast and creative players in attack but the ball possession was not the best, we lost simple passes and made mistakes.

“In terms of attack we didn’t give what we could or what we should have. I told the players before the game ‘we want to win, we will play to win’.”