Lampard philosophical over poor crowd

Chelsea goal hero Frank Lampard has every sympathy with the fans who shunned their opening Champions League game of the season against Anderlecht at Stamford Bridge last night.

Just over 29,000 turned up to watch Lampard earn Chelsea three points with the decisive goal against the Belgians in the 18th minute of a disappointing encounter.

The attendance was less than West Ham’s Premiership clash with Aston Villa the night before and Sheffield Wednesday’s Yorkshire derby with Leeds at Hillsborough.

Lampard, who hammered the winner from 25 yards after Dutch winger Arjen Robben had rolled the free-kick to him, says he can’t blame the fans from watching the pennies.

Chelsea’s ticket prices are among the most expensive in the Premiership and Lampard understands that fans have to pick and choose their games carefully.

He said: “Our fans got behind us at times even though we know the stadium wasn’t full. It is a lot to ask of people to come and keep spending their money.

“At this stage of the season you see a lot of grounds that are not always completely full. Our stadium wasn’t full but the fans that were here had a right go at getting behind us.”

Meanwhile, captain John Terry says the players are more united than ever as they embark on their quest to win the Champions League.

The squad was rocked in the early weeks of the season by unfavourable comments from Ricardo Carvalho and Robben over Mourinho’s rotation policy.

But Terry says all the players know the score and that their critics underestimate the strength of the bond among the squad.

Terry said: “Everyone seems to have spoken about how unhappy various members of the squad must be. Members like Geremi.

“They don’t realise the great spirit here. We’re all professionals, we all know our jobs. The manager sat us all down and said we will get the chance to play.

“Geremi got his chance on Saturday against Sunderland. He’d kept fit, played well, scored a goal and got man of the match.

“That shows where we are as a squad. If you need an example, take him. It’s that togetherness that will take us through in the Champions League and the Premiership.

“The players here are hungry to play and we will all do all we can to do well when we do play.”

That spirit met with stiff resistance from an Anderlecht side that has now lost eight Champions League games in succession.

The Belgians failed to win any of their group games last season and it is easy to understand why as they attempted to frustrate Chelsea’s natural attacking tendencies.

It took the English champions just 240 seconds to force Anderlecht goalkeeper Daniel Zitka into a marvellous double save to deny Claude Makelele and then Damien Duff.

Chelsea keeper Petr Cech was a spectator for most of the game and it was no surprise when the home side broke the deadlock with Lampard’s viciously driven free-kick.

Anderlecht midfielder Yves Vanderhaeghe fouled Duff and when Robben rolled the ball into Lampard’s path, the under-fire England midfielder sent a swerving drive beyond Zitka.

Lampard, criticised by England coach Sven-Goran Eriksson for not being on top of his game in between their recent World Cup qualifiers against Wales and Northern Ireland, supplied the perfect response with his guided missile.

It was his third goal of the season and should have been the catalyst for Chelsea to put the game beyond the reach of the Belgians.

However, Chelsea made hard work of it in the second period and the failure to kill off Anderlecht provided their opponents with the attacking inspiration that had been absent from their game in the first 45 minutes.

Indeed, it took a fortunate deflection from Terry’s right boot to prevent Anderlecht from snatching an equaliser in the 62nd minute when Anthony Vanden Borre’s speculative 30-yard drive crashed off the foot of Cech’s left-hand post.

It would have been a cruel blow for the home side, who had almost produced a carbon copy of Lampard’s opener a minute earlier.

Robben again rolled the ball into the England midfielder’s path some 30 yards from the target and Lampard again found his range perfectly.

The difference on this occasion was Zitka’s readiness to deal with the power and swerve contained within his shot, and that allowed him to punch the ball to safety.

It was Chelsea’s last real chance to add to the scoreline but Mourinho was happy with the three points.

He said: “In the first half we played very well, not so in the second. But they had one single shot on goal and the ball hit the post.”