Chelsea boss Carlo Ancelotti has leapt to the defence of under fire duo Petr Cech and Frank Lampard. After two defeats and three penalty misses inside four days last week, the pundits have turned on certain individuals.
Cech was blamed for allowing Carlos Tevez to score Manchester City's winner from a 25-yard free-kick in the Barclays Premier League on Saturday.
Lampard was then guilty of his first penalty miss since September 2006 when Shay Given saved his 83rd-minute attempt.
"This season, I think Cech did very well," said Ancelotti. "I like him. He takes the responsibility and likes to come out and catch the ball in the box.
"He could do better if you ask me about the free-kick on Saturday. I think the goalkeeper has to stay on his post and, if the player puts the ball over the wall and in, we have to congratulate him.
"Even a good goalkeeper can make a mistake sometimes but this season Petr has been doing very well.
"I can say that, at our training ground, Lampard is the player who practices penalties more than any other player. It's a psychological problem to shoot a penalty. When Lampard shoots a penalty, Cech tries to save it.
"I think that we did very well in the last games. In the last game against Manchester City we conceded a goal on the free-kick but set-pieces are different.
"We don't have to mark people on a free-kick. We have to put up a wall. That's not a problem like set-pieces. It was different to the last league game we lost against Aston Villa.
"That was two corner kicks, they scored twice. The situation has changed since that match. Set-pieces and free-kicks, they are different."
