Lampard “feeling good” as he settles into Chelsea role

Frank Lampard is hopeful the familiarity of playing at Chelsea for more than a decade will aid his development as a manager, as he prepares for his first season in charge at Premier League level.

The former Blues midfielder, who scored more than 250 goals for the club over 13 years, has had a mixed start to life as Chelsea manager with a win and a draw on their tour of Ireland, before a 1-0 reverse against Kawasaki Frontale in Yokohama on Friday.

Lampard won plenty of plaudits in his first season of management at Derby County as they missed out on Premier League promotion at the final hurdle to Aston Villa.

The 41-year-old hopes to build on last term with a Chelsea side full of talented young players and admitted it was a special feeling to step into the manager’s office, where high profile names such as Jose Mourinho, Luiz Felipe Scolari and Carlo Ancelotti have all sat.

“It did feel good. It has felt good to be back,” he told the Daily Mail.

“It’s certainly a benefit to know the building so well and a lot of faces in the building made it not so much of a first-day-of-school feeling.

“I spoke about Jose a lot, about when he first came, and the lift he gave me, the self-confidence, more mentally than actually tactically or physically. Guus Hiddink sent me a message this week which was very nice.

“These are all managers I respect. I respect all the managers I had, even ones I maybe didn’t have a close connection to.”

Lampard also insisted that the manager’s office was somewhere he preferred to avoid as a player.

“I wouldn’t have gone there much,” the 106-capped England International said.

“Only if I was called in or went in for any reason as vice-captain. I always respected the manager.

“I tried to be low maintenance and that corridor towards the manager’s office was somewhere you didn’t venture much. But now it’s where I’ll be, I suppose.”

Chelsea continue their pre-season tour of Asia on Tuesday against Barcelona at Saitama Stadium.