The thing is, it's not like Lampard's playing great either, he's just marginally playing better than Raul (in my opinion). Also why should Lampard dictate or argue with the manager because he 'thinks' he's better than another player, that is not only disrespectful to the manager but also to the other player. All im trying to say is that no player is bigger than the manger, and certainly not the club... if they want to play more than they can leave. Simple as that. 'Lampard is a smart 33 years old player' He is, you're quite right. But sometimes your pride gets in the way, looking in from the outside is simple, we know Lampard is declining in form (mostly because of his age) but he may not think that, it doesn't matter how 'smart' you are, or in this case 'educated' most people are oblivious to their own faults. It's hard to judge who knows more about Football, maybe Lampard knows more about the physical side, and AVB knows more about the managerial side. But obviously you and i don't know that for sure, how could we? it's not like we know them personally.