“It’s a lot more tactical” – Tomori on Italian football, Lampard’s axe

Chelsea defender on loan at AC Milan Fikayo Tomori has stated the difference between the English football and the Italian football despite only spending three weeks in the Italian atmosphere.

Tomori was given his Premier League opportunities by Frank Lampard last season and put up impressive performances, scoring a screamer against Wolves but fell the pecking order after the lockdown. He joined AC Milan on loan in the January transfer window.

“Here it’s a lot more tactical, there’s a lot more thinking going on and a lot more positional awareness,” Tomori told Sky Sports News.

“In England the game is a lot faster. Like when a goalkeeper catches a ball then suddenly you have strikers and wingers bombing up the pitch, here it’s a bit more structured and a bit slower.

“There’s a lot more instances when you’re 1 v 1 and you have to be aware of where the ball is, where you have to be standing at a specific moment in relation to the ball. That kinda stuff is different and it takes time to get used to.”

Chelsea wasn’t the first time Tomori and Lampard worked together, the two worked together at Derby County a season before they arrived at Chelsea, they built an excellent relationship, one which made Lampard axing him hard to understand.

“I will always be grateful for the opportunities he gave me,” Tomori told the Telegraph. “Maybe because of our history he thought I would accept it, but from my perspective, with that history, it felt more personal and harder to understand.

“I don’t know what happened, it wasn’t really explained to me. I was suddenly out of the squad and I don’t really know why. It was so frustrating.”

Frank Lampard was sacked three days after Tomori left Chelsea. New boss Thomas Tuchel was asked about Tomori at his press conference today and he said: “I have a general impression of Tomori which means that he has high potential but I’m not into all the details right now.”