posted Jan 5, 2008

Oh and by the way Ronaldo contributes more than Lampard does

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Over the last 4 seasons?

Nowhere near!

The season before last Ronaldo was labelled a one trick pony scoring a measly 5 goals and making a mere handful of assists.

Last season he had a stormer and is backing it up this season I grant you and he has the potential to be the best but one great season doesn't make him the best in the business and until he strings together 4 great seasons like Lampard has in terms of productivity (end product) will I give him the acknowledgements he deserves.

Lampard has missed the majority of this season prior to injury yet still has an impressive tally to his name.

As for Gerrard and Lampard partnership for England, everybody knew it did not work and I put the onus on Gerrard because Lampard was dropped for the Russia game and played alongside Gerrard for the Croatia game. These games were crucial and mattered most where Gerrard played the majority in his desired position and did nothing!! He called for the change and his fan base demanded it that Gerrard played central midfield for England.

In this time of positional change for Gerrard he has arguably been the worst player for England and as captain for most of this time due to Terry's injuries he inspired England to lose....


Lampard was made the scapegoat for a poor world cup by England so Gerrard at least should receive his blame for turning England's qualifying campaign into a shambles as captain and supposedly best attacking player

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posted Jan 5, 2008

Really?



What a ****!



Gerrard shouldn't be played there IMO. He doesn't have a very wide range of passing, all he does is long balls and hard long balls across the floor. Being the most important position on the field it effects how the team play, and to be fair it makes England play like Liverpool. We need someone like Scholes who can do any kind of pass you like, and keeps things ticking with consitent passes. Rooney could do it I reckon, but we need him up front! So for me it's either Lampard or Carrick to partner Hargreaves.

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posted Jan 5, 2008

I mean currently mate.


I actually agree with the Gerrard thing. People say he's versatile, rubbish. He does one kind of pass and that is long and hard. We need someone who has a range of passing, someone who will create something different when needed, someone with imagination! AMF is possibly the most important position when it comes to attacking, and will influence how the team attacks. Which is why I think England ended up playing like Liverpool. Mac thought he could mix it up a bit with pace on the wings, but playing Joe Cole out of position (when he has an awesome cross on him) is such a crap idea and always has been. I'd prefer SWP on that side (even though his partnership with Richards looks good) because he doesn't really do the crossing game, he is fast and has quick feet, and basically forces the ball into the danger area. Since we don't have a LW he should be there.



... anyway... I actually believe Lampard is a quality player. You can't argue with goals and assists. But I think we need something new in AMF, a young Scholes or fabregas style. But since we don't have one at the mo I'd put Lampard in to partner Hargreaves, and maybe bring the super hero Gerrard on as an impact sub.

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posted Jan 5, 2008

Vidic : "If he dies, he dies."

Lampard's passing variation is as good as anybody. He does however possess the best assist ratio in the modern game from central midfield.

Scholes was a great player but he too went 3 years without a goal for his country and went through a 2 year lame patch. Lampard is the most consistent player or reliable player there is.

I do agree with your Gerrard assessment of being a poor passer of the ball.

What attribute does Gerrard actually excel in?

Just hitting the ball well hard in a hit and hope manner where the occasional goal or assist comes off is not what I call world class is it?

Gerrard hasn't the technical guile to be a ball player full stop!

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posted Jan 5, 2008

See mods?! See how stupid this is?!!!



True Scholes didn't score or assist much but his general style influenced the team. I think this is an occassion where you can argue against statistics, because after Euro 2004 when he left England have failed to play good football. You could say it's because of the Gerrard Lampard thing, because when Gerrard was in DMF he was doing well and Lampard was doing well. So you could argue it's because of that switch of positions, but even so you'd expect them to pull it off sometimes when they share the CMF duties, and they didn't.

With Scholes he used to just keep things ticking over with constant passes, and accurate passes. He'd calm the team down when needed with his level headedness and spark a counter attack with any kind of ball required. He was always involved in the build up, but not neccessarily the guy who plays in the scorer.

Lampard does have some of these attributes, but I don't think he has the range Scholes had. Even so I want to see something new and fresh, some enthusiasm and something unpredictable!

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posted Jan 5, 2008

Vidic : "If he dies, he dies."

I will be brutally honest with you.

I too rated Scholes highly as a ball player. His accurate passing was a key attribute as much as Lampard's is. I understand the ethic of ball retention and how important it is to keep the ball and build up attacking football. I think both Scholes and Lampard do this extremely well which explains how Chelsea in particular struggle to dominate games without Lampard in the team. I notice how quick and frequent Chelsea lose possession when Lampard is missing from the team. The same can be said of England.

Gerrard thrives on getting the ball forward too quickly which explains his poor passing and squandering possession tag. He looks for the speculative pass all of the time instead of the better option which either tells me he is a glory seeking undiciplined player or a player not technically suited to play in a influential position such as central midfield where discipline is essential.


What makes Lampard so special in my opinion is the way he mixes up his game of disciplined ball playing and still being able to score goals and get forward to contribute in the final 3rd of the pitch with so much end product.


Now Ronaldo this season and last season is showing signs of a player who can dominate the premiership. We all knew he had ability and skill but failed to add end product to his game. Now that he is finding that killer ball and back of the net I believe Utd have a player that they cannot lose at any cost. As for your currently comment I have no argument against although Ronaldo is a different player to Lampard. Ronaldo is more of a pacey, tricky winger who can cut inside and deliver where ball playing is not necessarily in his makeup. Lampard has other duties to perform in his position aswell as score so many goals and make them. This is what makes me feel Lampard on top of his game is the pick of the bunch. Why? Because he can perform multi tasking duties from passing, defending, positioning, scoring, assisting to a high standard whilst other players struggle to perform all.

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posted Jan 5, 2008

You speak the truth, not a lot I can say really.

One thing I always thought was funny is how people call him fat frank, when he's possibly the fittest player in the squad. I don't mean that he bombs up and down the pitch, box to box style, but he's always running and always moving. Such an a good attribute. If a small team of poorer players are contstantly moving and constantly passing ALL the time, they always have a massive chance of winning any game. I think Wenger knows it, his players are always moving into space and rotating around each other.

I need to stop getting distracted

What I was saying is I think Lampard's movement and positional sense is 2 of his top assets that other players don't have instinctively.

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posted Jan 5, 2008

Right I'm off home, going to watch Chasetown!

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posted Jan 5, 2008

Vidic : "If he dies, he dies." and Chelsea Logic, I agree with both of you.

I agree with Logic in the sense that I too feel his passing qualities and ball retention are among as good as anybody's in the game. For me he is the perfect box to box player. Scores a vast amount of goals, and you know he'll always be back when needed.

I do however agree with Vidic : "If he dies, he dies". I too feel that Lampard is unique in the sense that although he is greatly talented in technique, passing, shooting etc, his two biggest assets are his movement and positional sense. Almost every goal that Lampard scores which isn't an absolute screamer is identical in the way that he approaches it. He'll look around to get a sense of what is around him and he'll dash past a player a good few seconds before that player has even realised. I personally have never seen any other player do this as consistently as Lampard can.

You watch that wonderpass against City. He looks up and sees Drogba BEFORE he has even received the ball. He then receives the ball and without having to look up just plays a sublime pass with the outside of his boot straight into Drogba's path. This to me defines technique, skill and football intelligence at the highest level.

Plus this Fat Frank thing is a bit childish isn't it? Apart from not having an ounce of fat on him, in terms of getting about the pitch I believe he statistically runs more metres than practically anyone in the Premiership.

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posted Jan 5, 2008

What makes me laugh is how some people call Lampard a finished player or player past his best when season after season he answers his critics.

This season he has suffered injuries which to be fair has caught up with him after 4 years of non stop appearances for both club and country. Lampard is getting older but is far from past it. If Lampard feels he has another 5 seasons in him I agree.

Then we have people saying Lampard isn't wanted elsewhere. Absolute rubbish!

If Lampard refused to sign an extension and the club put him up for sale most top teams in Europe and the prem would come in for him. Last season Barcelona, Inter milan, Juventus and Real Madrid all showed interest in Lampard and even Milan a couple of seasons ago came inquiring. All these teams were warned off and Lampard showed no desire to leave which ended any enquiries about his position at the club.

Why are these teams not offering transfer fees?

Because they will be turned away and they know this. The start of any transfer process comes after a player shows any interest of a possible move and Lampard has never showed any interest at all which forces other teams to look elsewhere. If a player isn't interested then what's the point of offering any money?

The club has always stated they wanted to sort out Lampard's new contract and any speculation of Lampard being forced out of the club is a complete lie. Some reports suggested Chelsea wanted to build the team around Ballack last season and that Lampard was going to play second fiddle yet that never happened did it?

Lampard himself stalled most of the talks and I cannot believe for one second that he is waiting for any offers from teams abroad. If he wanted that he would have moved on last season when some of these teams showed interest then. Lampard is happy with his life in London and his Chelsea career and has a great relationship with the fans here. Money is not the issue because he can get a parity with Terry on top wages which he would struggle to get anywhere else. Perhaps the club itself is waiting to the end of the season before improving his contract seeing he has 18 months left because they know Lampard has no desire to move on so the urgency is not really there.

I predict at the end of the season that Lampard signs that long drawn out contract.

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