Chelsea manager Frank Lampard has revealed that he had conversations with all the players about their fears and reservations before resuming the training session earlier this week after spending more than two months in isolation due to the crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“One of the things for me as a manager that I’ve learnt in this two-month period is that communication is so key,” Lampard was quoted as saying on the official website of Chelsea.

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“When we went into isolation we all felt like we went into this crazy bubble that we’re not used to. Me sending messages to the players and asking how they felt was so important,” he added.

Chelsea players Tammy Abraham and Willian had expressed concern about going to the field when the fight against coronavirus in the United Kingdom was still not won. A total of eight English Premier League players and club staff have been tested positive for the virus so far.

“I didn’t want to bombard them so they were bored of me but I did want them to know that I’m here. As the talk of restarting came it was an important conversation that we had collectively. Everybody is different and we’ve seen that with the reaction of players and that has to be respected in all ways. We work every day as a family and a team and we’ll respect everyone and how they feel about the restart and coming back to work,” the Chelsea legend explained.

Lampard also revealed that all the club managers had a meeting last week where all of them voted to play the remaining part of the 2019-20 season. The last Premier League match was played in March before a nationwide lockdown was imposed to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus.

“All of us here want to work,’ he said. ’It’s our job and we’re very fortunate to have this job, to play football and we want to finish it.

“When we see so many things in the country and the world, much more important things than football happening, I think that’s been a bit of a reset for all of us but what remains is we want to play football. We want to finish this season but the most important thing is when it’s safe and healthy for players and staff. Fans won’t be coming but will it change things in society, the policing, the NHS, all these things need to come together and hopefully we can get our game back,” the former England international said.