Frank Lampard Offers Support to Tammy Abraham After Super Cup Penalty Miss
Frank Lampard has revealed the words of encouragement he gave Tammy Abraham after the striker missed the crucial spot kick in Chelsea's 5-4 penalty shootout defeat to Liverpool in the UEFA Super Cup.
An enthralling tie ended 2-2 after extra time with neither side able to find the pivotal winner, with the tie eventually heading to penalties where the Blues' number nine saw his effort saved by Adrian to deny Lampard his first piece of silverware in charge of the club.
The engrossing encounter saw Chelsea take the lead through Olivier Giroud, only to be pegged back by a Sadio Mane double. Jorginho's dubious extra time penalty levelled matters after Abraham went down under Adrian's challenge, despite minimal contact, before the English forward spurned the chance to take the resulting shootout to sudden death with his missed effort.
However, Lampard insisted after the game that he wasn't concerned by the 21-year-old's inability to convert his spot kick.
"The fact that he’s confident and wants to step up to take the fifth penalty is pleasing to me. I’ve been there myself, anyone can miss a penalty, but what I want is the confidence of a young player to turn up and do that," he said on the club's official website.
"It’s part and parcel of being a player at the top level, which is what Tammy now is. These moments come and we have to be supportive of him because that’s football."
Following a 4-0 hammering at the hands of Manchester United in their opening Premier League match, Chelsea put in a much-improved showing, something that reassured Lampard, who claimed his side were the better performers on the night.
"I respect Liverpool and they had chances in the game but it was clear to me that we were the stronger team," he added. "We had some bad luck at times and maybe some bad finishing which we need to be more clinical with but my overall feeling from the game is one of pride in the team performance."