Chelsea manager Frank Lampard says he never wavered in his belief in giving young players a chance at Stamford Bridge this season.
His tenure began with a 4-0 defeat at Manchester United on the opening weekend of the Premier League season and was criticised for starting both Tammy Abraham and Mason Mount in the game at Old Trafford.
Lampard says he would have been a "flip-flopper" had he changed approach in the wake of that defeat and heading into an English League Cup tie with United tonight, the Blues are on a run of seven straight wins in all competitions.
“There is a lot of noise, win, lose or draw; selection, whatever 11 I pick,” said Lampard, who has been unable to sign new players because of a club transfer embargo.
“With this big wide world of social media we have now it will be dissected and people will have different opinions and some people who are ex players or ex managers will have different opinions.
“I set out this season to see what these young boys could do.
“If I didn’t have a transfer ban and came to this club and had opportunities to bring players in during the summer, I still would have trusted the young boys and would have made decisions around that.
“For me to have thrown that away after one game at Manchester United and a few opinions, that would have made me a bit of a flip-flopper.”