Frank Lampard admits his future is not in his control as pressure mounts on his position as Chelsea manager.
Chelsea were deservedly beaten 2-0 at Leicester on Tuesday night, a result that saw the Blues lose ground in the race for European qualification as Brendan Rodgers’ side went top.
Goalscorer James Maddison spoke after the game about the specific Chelsea weakness which Leicester targeted , in what was a fifth defeat in eight league games for Lampard’s side.
Speculation is growing as to whether owner Roman Abramovich still believes the former midfielder is the right man to lead his expensively assembled squad .
"I can't control it,” Lampard said in his post-match press conference. “I have been asked it over the last few weeks. I understand it and it is the expectation of the club whether it is right or wrong.
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"I took the job knowing that there will be difficult times because it is not a club ready to compete. We have had a ban, we have young players, we have new players that we can see are striving for form and to be settled into this team.
"At the minute we have to fight."
Lampard once again laid the blame for Chelsea’s defeat on his players, saying only they can take responsibility for their individual performances.
"There are players who are not playing as well as they should do. I was a player and they are the only ones who can deal with that.
"The general theme of our performance was slow, sluggish with a lack of desire to run and that can come with a lack of confidence. We got beaten by the better team."
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Lampard's players, he said, are still in the process of developing.
"If you look at the composition of the squad, you can see there are young players or ones who were in a different league or on loan or in the Championship within one or two seasons," he said.
"You are asking a lot for them to become John Terry overnight. It doesn't happen that way."
Leicester manager Brendan Rodgers, who cut his coaching teeth at Chelsea under Jose Mourinho, said his side had to perform to win on the night.
"Chelsea were an amazing club for me when I was a youth coach for them. I have huge respect for them. They are a talented team and we had to play well to win."
Rodgers added to BBC Sport : "We played against a Chelsea team that is very talented and has outstanding players but we were very good and ran our socks off without the ball, which you have to do in these games.
"I was really pleased with how we closed the game. I felt in the second half our defensive block was much than in the first but we still carried a threat."