Chelsea boss Frank Lampard celebrates one year in charge of the Blues tonight with a home against Watford.
However, Lampard admits the progress of his young team has been quicker than expected but has warned the fans to be patient as he builds a team capable of challenging for the title.
Lampard said: “I’m always a perfectionist and I always want more. It means nothing if we don’t finish off the season well. If we get in the Champions League spots then of course I will be very, very pleased.
“It has been an enjoyable first year here. When I came into the job, even though I knew the club well, I didn’t know the current squad so well. I have learned a lot.
“I’m a realist and knowing we lost Eden Hazard and the input he had individually at the club was huge, it was a case of and how do we work around that? I think we’ve found good ways to work around that.
“I sense from the fans what they want. I always want to improve and we’re nowhere near the finished article or where we want to be.
“We have found a really good level at times. If we say now, ‘Ok, now we’re going to challenge’ we have to remember we’re actually going up against if not the two best club teams in the world, then two teams very very close to that.
“The reason is because they’ve worked hard over a big period, they’ve trained well and recruited well, so we may find the curve looks slightly different. “We have to fight against that and try and close the gap as quickly as we can in whatever way we can as a club.”