Phil Driver

Best away atmosphere was this game - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j6c91wczm0w

Does he know that Roy Keane and Nicky Butt played the holding role at Utd?

The best atmosphere I have ever experienced at a game was the Milk cup semi v Sunderland in the Eighties at Stamford Bridge when we lost ,you could cut it with a knife,the tension and noise was unbelievable ,anyone else there that night?

bleed_blue, on 07 May 2013 - 3:42 PM, said: Throw up those action area stats to trump these again. It could be a statistical oddity which has no relevance at all I suppose?

Jamie Carragher believes Frank Lampard is second only to Steven Gerrard in the list of best English midfielders of the Premier League era, ranking him above Paul Scholes. The retired defender is adamant the 35-year-old Chelsea midfielder, who has notched 166 goals in the top flight of English football, has been the more influential than Scholes and says he has not received the plaudits he deserves. ENGLAND LATEST 8/1 Frank Lampard is 8/1 with BetVictor to score first against Everton “Frank has a catalogue of golden moments and, for that reason, I have him behind Steven but ahead of Paul Scholes in my list of the Premier League’s top three English midfielders,” Carragher wrote in his column in the Daily Mail. “I know Barcelona’s Xavi described Scholes as the best midfielder of the last 20 years but Frank has influenced more big games — his goals clinched Chelsea’s first title in 2005, he has won them an FA Cup final and scored in a Champions League final. “He has also played more and scored more for England, and his tally of 166 Premier League goals — the highest by a midfielder — outstrips the 107 Scholes scored.” Lampard and Gerrard were often criticised for failing to work well as a partnership for England, but Carragher believes the lack of success the pair enjoyed should be blamed on former Three Lions boss Sven-Goran Eriksson. “I was adamant [Lampard] merited playing alongside Gerrard. If anything, Eriksson made a mess of whether Gerrard and Lampard could be a partnership. Of course they could have,” Carragher continued. “A strong manager would have told Steven to play the holding role — that is more in his make-up — and to let Frank go forward. “But he didn’t. He fudged it. That’s why Scholes ended up out on the left and eventually in international retirement. “This is not an attack on Scholes — it is anything but. It is just important to illustrate what Lampard has achieved as I don’t believe he has had the credit he deserves.” Gerrard is my mate but Lampard was the best attacking midfielder and Gerrard should have played deeper to accomodate Lampard.

Very interesting to hear Carragher say Eriksson should have been strong and played Gerrard in the holding role for England and Lampard in the advanced role,he knew who was best really.

Scholes retired from England when Lampard took his place.,he knew it was pointless and a series of long travels where on the agenda and a lot of bench warming . Scholes was never really world class and second in the European player of the year, good player though and got quite a few goals from his advanced role,does not compare with Lampard though ,maybe it was the sideways passes that turned some on?

I hope he is brilliant because he is English and he looked good today ,but look who was marking him ?

So we must have scored 5 today and did not need a threat from midfield? Did anyone have a decent shot from outside the box? Mikel had one first half ,did I say decent? Did anyone time a perfect run into the box to finish off our approach play? as well as recovering his position when not in possession. One can only hope Jose has learned he was right in the first place on Lampard,resting him after a difficult week playing for England and with the champions league in mind is a luxury we are unable to afford,as today showed.

Shades of Ya Ya Toure there and many others including Willian when at Shakhtar ,hopefully we did not just buy Willian because he breezed past Obi ,because difficult that aint.

Sorry forgot to include our wins against Hull and Villa and a point away v Utd in those stats so without Mikel should read W14 D2 L2 ,with Mikel W3 D2 L5 since he returned form the African nations last season, of course it could be a freak stat? that shows no relevance to his contribution at all?

bleed_blue, on 07 May 2013 - 3:42 PM, said: bleed_blue, on 07 May 2013 - 3:42 PM, said: Long and short range stats are only pointing one way on this one. W3 D2 L5 when in the team W12 D1 L2 without . Lampard's stats for instance are very positive during the same period,but then again when you score you do tend to win or draw .

Otherwise known as a passenger ,who sits there and does next to nothing.

https://twitter.com/...5922944/photo/1 Slightly better than par today . Very good for him . Gotta keep those possesion stats high that is the key to winning football matches ,forget this - bleed_blue, on 07 May 2013 - 3:42 PM, said:

Can somebody please put up that chart that shows where he stands still on the pitch again and passes slowly sideways/backwards keeping possession,as opposed to the stats that actually show how many games we win and lose when he plays? Brilliant at what he does today,agree .

Did we need someone to score at Goodison?

My only thought is that Lampard was being saved for Europe after a tough spell with England ,funny how we have taken all those goals for granted over the years granted ,one in the first half today would have been useful ,priceless a midfield player who scores when it matters. Please do not make the same mistake again ,Jose. Maybe not stupid if saving him for other matches is the idea, but more evidence to support the fact that players in his class are very rare indeed,if anybody needed it.

That is the ONLY stat that concerns me .I suppose it could be coincidence ,but then again?

Chelsea win ,these sort of games are always tough and you need a sound defence to win them our defence is looking good and settled and I expect us to start with, .............Cech........ Ivan..Cahill...Terry...Cole.. ....Ramires...Lampard.. the key to a great away record is to have a settled defence and this group is looking good and you do not do it by sitting back ,you press at the right time and you drop off when necessary. The last few seasons we have been far too deep when playing away and our away record has not been good enough with too many goals conceded that were easy to score.

Lampard's scoring record is second to none at Goodison ,Jose will be well aware of this ,Lamps will be one of the first on the sheet for this fixture. It would be stupid for him not to select Lampard for this match and he will . Plugging gaps and passing backwards to allegedly boost posession stats does not always mean you win the game,goals do.

And I stand by Jose's continung selection of Lampard 100% and the fact even the waiter had to pick Lampard for all the games when the sh1t hit the fan late in the season.

JT is a top bloke one of the nicest around ,as Capt of Chelsea he has always been a target of the gutter press and everything he does is blown our of proportion and magnified ,lesser players do much worse all the time ,under this scrutiny he has always lead us in exemplary fashion and no player has done more for the club than him ,if there were more John Terry's coming through our system we would be assured of a great future and some of our kids need to have a look at his dedication to the Chelsea cause.

Frank Lampard still England's key player - Zinedine Zidane http://www.bbc.co.uk...otball/24015957 and one of Chelsea's . Strange how some are trying to write him off,about time the club offered him another year .

So long as he sticks to his brief of scouting and not interfering with Jose than he will be ok and Jose should still have the final say on who we sign ,he is an advisor to Jose in my opinion.

Don't be silly, Drogba was the ultimate time waster when we were winning a game. He uses that to slow down the tempo when we need to and he it often worked very well for us. But you can't pretend that he never did it on purpose. Choulou misses the point once again !!! Of course he did it on purpose ,you have obviously never played the game at a decent level ,when you play with your back to goal and are constantly whacked from behind as Drogba did/was ,going down is your only option to remain injury free as you are being kicked from behind on a regular basis ,going down was Drogba's way to remain injury free and it worked.