Frank Lampard Fumes After Chelsea Blow Race for Champions League Wide Open

Frank Lampard did not hold back in his criticism of Chelsea's players after the 3-0 defeat to Sheffield United, claiming the Blades had 'more voice and personality' while lamenting a number of individual mistakes.

Chris Wilder's side surprisingly tore the Blues apart at Bramall Lane, sealing all three points thanks to David McGoldrick's brace and Oliver McBurnie's first half header.

Lampard was livid at the final whistle, and, as quoted on Chelsea's official website, gave a scathing assessment of a performance that leaves the club's hopes of qualifying for the Champions League in the balance.

Here's what the Chelsea boss had to say on his side's dismal display.

"They Had More Voice & More Personality"

"They were better than us physically, in the mind and with the ball so you lose the game. They were stronger than us. We don’t have crowds at the minute so you hear every voice and all I could hear was Sheffield United voices so they were stronger in that sense.

"They had more voice and more personality, which reflected in the way they played. They’re good players and they’re a good team - we all know that this season so if you come here and perform below-par collectively as we did, it’s going to happen.

"We matched them because we have to respect their shape. We were too slow with the ball, we weren’t even getting our wingers into the game and they have been fantastic since the restart.

"We tried to get some more control of the game, which we did have after that but we never looked overly threatening and they still had the counter-attack. It definitely made us look more solid against their shape but already at 2-0 down you make it very difficult for yourself."

"I Learnt a Lot - I Won't Forget That"

The Chelsea boss was left frustrated by the 'individual errors' which led to goals, but did admit that he will try not to overanalyse the result as they must 'put it to bed'.

"They’re disappointing goals, mistakes that led to goals, individual errors, and if you do that you will lose football matches against good teams. I’ve got to be careful not to over-analyse this one because it’s what you do, analyse all season and review things.

"What we have to do now with that game is put it to bed because the only thing that matters now is that we fight for top four and we’re still in that race because of how we’ve been this season.

"We have to put this game away very quickly but I learnt a lot, I won’t forget that. You tend to learn more in tough moments and tough games but that's for me to deal with moving forward."

"Not Concerned About Top Four Today"

Lampard was furious over his players' approach to this defeat, and warned them that they cannot enter their remaining fixtures in the same manner - or they will suffer the same consequences.

"I’m not actually concerned so much about the top four today, even though all I do is watch the games on TV and consider where we’re at and what we want to do.

"Of course I want to get there but today I’m concerned about how we performed and I learned a lot about that. We cannot approach Norwich or Man United or Liverpool or Wolves in the same way we did today.

"It's not one to cry our eyes out over for days. We know where we're at - we have the opportunity to fight for the top four, which not many expected us to do at the start of the season. We're nowhere near a finished article, I know that and we have to improve."