Frank Lampard admits his future is out of his hands as the pressure continues to build on the Chelsea boss.
The Blues were beaten 2-0 by Leicester on Tuesday, leaving them eighth in the Premier League table at the midway point of the campaign.
Lampard’s side have now won only two of their last eight league games and there has been speculation linking Thomas Tuchel and Andriy Shevchenko with the managerial job at Stamford Bridge.
And after the defeat at the King Power Stadium, Lampard conceded that he cannot prevent discussions about his future.
“I can't control it,” he said. “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.
"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.
"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."
"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.
"You are asking a lot for them to become John Terry overnight. It doesn't happen that way."
Chelsea face Luton in the fourth round of the FA Cup this weekend, before a home game against Wolves in the Premier League next Wednesday.
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