The Blues have endured a mixed start to the new season under the Italian, sitting fourth in the Premier League table.
Chelsea’s solid run of form with three successive wins in the top flight came to an end last night at West Ham.
Conte’s chances of EFL Cup glory may be over after the 2-1 defeat at the London Stadium, but legend Lampard believes the manager is an authoritative figure which was much needed at Stamford Bridge.
Antonio Conte insists that he will take “a lot of positive things” from Chelsea’s performance in a 2-1 defeat to West Ham in the EFL Cup fifth round, and believes his team were “unlucky” to emerge on the losing side.
Goals in each half from Cheikhou Kouyate and Edimilson Fernandes were enough for West Ham to set up a quarterfinal clash with Manchester United at Old Trafford, despite Gary Cahill’s late consolation strike in the closing stages of a match marred by crowd trouble at the London Stadium.
Conte elected to make seven changes to the starting XI that beat United 4-0 at Stamford Bridge on Sunday, and after the match, the Italian insisted that his fringe players had given him reasons to be optimistic.
“I’m waiting for the Conte-era to really kick in,” Lampard told BBC’s Premier League Show.
“I was excited as a Chelsea man when he came in, I thought they needed the discipline and a different angle from last year.
“I think people were relaxed, I think they won the league, and they relaxed. The minute you relax in football, you turn the switch off, you can’t turn it straight on again.
“That’s why I quite like Conte, he’s known as a disciplinarian, he’s working them hard in training – I speak to players there, John and a few of the other lads there, and he’s trying to organize them, working them hard on the pitch.”
Chelsea are very much in the title race, just a point off joint leaders Manchester City, Arsenal, and Liverpool with nine games gone.
However, New York City midfielder Lampard believes another of his former clubs in City are destined for the crown this season.
On his title favorite, Lampard added: “I think Manchester City. I think they’ve bought well – I love Stones. I think they’ve got the best goalscorer in the league in Aguero, he’s a genius of a goalscorer.
“I loved being there for a year, being around him in training, he’s a goal machine. He’d stand around a little bit in training and he’d score goals for fun.”