‘It’s changed the landscape. We’ll try and manage it as best we can and we’re fortunate that we have a big squad here but at the same time we want to do the best. The pressures are on, the players want to get the right results so it could certainly have a big effect this year, more than any other year.’
It is not just personnel options that Lampard has to manage but flexibility in tactical systems and shapes. In the second half of the midweek win in Krasnodar, the introduction of Mason Mount and N’Golo Kante led to a 4-3-3 being deployed, a change that opened up the game in the middle of the field.
‘It gave us different angles of pass and an idea that we could press higher up the pitch,’ explained Lampard. ‘There were a lot of answers to things I had my own questions on and there were a lot of positives to it.
Let’