'You're only strong when you win something': Lampard speaks on Chelsea title-challenge

What you do on the pitch matters more than 'irrelevant' discussions off the field, Lampard says. His squad is young and the price tags don't matter as the improvement will continue.

The Chelsea team is not as good as a few other squads in the league, but Lampard hopes that they will get there soon enough.

"I just don’t see it," Lampard admitted in response to claims that he has the strongest squad in the country (via Chelseafc.com). "I’m not talking down my squad by saying that.

"Some people are saying we’ve got the strongest squad and we can swap players with no change but these are the same people who were saying those players weren’t so good when we drew with West Brom and Southampton.

"The tide has turned pretty quickly but the conversation is pretty irrelevant because it’s only what we do on the pitch that matters. I look around and see strong squads that have been winning things over the last few years and that are very stable. 

"There are squads that can have one of the best players in the world sitting on the bench most games as their back-up and teams that have got Champions League winners throughout their squad. We’re not quite there at the moment but we hope to get there.

"We’ve got some new players that have come in and people maybe want to look at the price tags but at the same time some of them are young players who are coming to play in this league for the first time and they clearly need a little bit of time. There are lots of elements to the squad. 

"I believe we will improve, we are improving as it stands and I think we’ll continue to improve but strong squads will only be referred to when you win something."

Chelsea went on a 17-game unbeaten run before Everton ended it with a 1-0 win against the Blues on November 12. Lampard has previously also downplayed talks of a potential title challenge as he believes that there is a lot of work to be done before eyeing the big prize.

In time, we're sure that the squad will be very capable of mounting challenges for multiple titles. For now, however, we must be patient with the squad and the manager.