🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Frank Lampard

[YouNameIt 1,511]

Sometimes I think was it wise to give him an extension? I know I sound harsh but the sooner we move on from him the better our overall team becomes as it seems our current midfield is trying to cover Lampard's deficiencies as seen by Mata playing deeper today with no success. Even Ramires is now restricted to do those classic counter attack bursts of his cause we would be left without defensive cover. Also I have noticed whenever we are under pressure and in desperate need of keeping the ball Frank seems to lose it a lot. I know his a legend and we cant replace his goal scoring prowess but for the greater good of the team he should not be starting.

First of all, keeping him in the team was the only right decision. He still has much to give.

Some of the things you say might be true, but I believe what has to be done is to think about who we are pairing him with in the pivot when we play 4-2-3-1. For instance, I think he would work alot better with Essien, simply because he could move further up the pitch alot more then. But mainly, he's best suited for the 4-3-3, and should mostly be played as a sub tbh. Except for some games against bigger teams.

[Tomo 21,751]

and should mostly be played as a sub tbh. Except for some games against bigger teams.

Actually i think the opposite, the bigger games (despite his experience) he shouldn't play (unless we are losing with 20 minutes to go then chuck him on), it's the smaller teams who won't attack us as much are the one's Lamps should play in.

[RoyalBlues 4,050]

No offense to anybody, but I found it's a little bit funny that it's just needs 72 hours from hero to zero, from praise to abuse for our living and still active legend, Frank Lampard. The contrast is unbelievable. Remember how old Lampard is, no way he could perform consistently match after match in space of 3 days, nobody can.

Edit : Just watched the highlights video, he got 1 assist for the winning goal. Okay fine, get rid of him, he is useless.

[bleed_blue 136]

Edit : Just watched the highlights video, he got 1 assist for the winning goal. Okay fine, get rid of him, he is useless.

Also his role in the first goal. That pass he immediately played to oscar on receiving the ball from ashley cole. Had it been the "only recognised DM" in lampard's place, he would have passed the ball back to our CB.

[CHOULO19 24,332]

That delivery for Iva's goal, as brilliant as it was, does NOT make up for that terrible performance. He had an absolute shocker. His passing was way off, his defensive contribution was almost nonexistent, and he wanted to play so high up the pitch he just ended up crowding the already crowded area where the three AMs are supposed to operate. He left Ramires complete stranded against a three-man Villa midfield.

And all this was at home against Aston Villa. I don't even want to find out how he'll perform against a team like united or City..

[Milan 17,957]

On a different note, Lampard is now only 10 league goals behind Thierry Henry.

Shearer 260

Andy Cole 189

Henry 176

Lampard 166

[borriske 330]

No offense to anybody, but I found it's a little bit funny that it's just needs 72 hours from hero to zero, from praise to abuse for our living and still active legend, Frank Lampard. The contrast is unbelievable. Remember how old Lampard is, no way he could perform consistently match after match in space of 3 days, nobody can.

Edit : Just watched the highlights video, he got 1 assist for the winning goal. Okay fine, get rid of him, he is useless.

Agree. We should just be careful in which games to start him in (and monday isn't one of them)

[Jusek 2,031]

On a different note, Lampard is now only 10 league goals behind Thierry Henry.

Shearer 260

Andy Cole 189

Henry 176

Lampard 166

He'll go easily past him.

[nadavTKL 1,787]

I feel like Jose didnt bring a top class CM just becuase he trust Lampard and loves him. His friendship with him couldnt let him get a VERY NEEDED replacment for Lampard, so we got MVG who's too young to be considered a threat for Lamps. Thats just a theory off course, but the facts (for me those are facts) stays the same whatever happend in the summer: he cant be our starting CM but its still very much the situation.

I can realy understand what Tinashe4 is saying. I love Lampard, he's my favourite of all time and i wanted him to stay, but i also was afraid that him staying would mean we wont get a replcament. And here we are - 2013/2014 season - and he's still our main man in Central Midfield - and the same problems from last season are on show again: we're so slow in bulid up from the midfield, we cant get the ball higher quick enough, with enough pace, or with enough imagination. Frank's heaviness and slowness in his age realy slows up our game. He also doesnt react good to pressure and his passing arent good enough anymore. He's not allways the only problem, sometimes Hazard, Mata and Oscar dont make good enough movement to get those key passes from the Pivot, but i think that Lampard is a big part of the problem and the first step was to get someone better. We should have got a DLP who's quicker, faster, more technical and aggressive in defense to help Ramies.

Thats alot of kind of "bashing" i know, but he's 35 ffs.. it was time to move on this summer and Jose didnt do it, and in all honesty im disappointed from him in this subject.

Only solutions are:

1) MVG would surprise and be THAT player already this season.

2) Jose would make KDB/Oscar a descent DLP.

3) We'll get someone out of the blue in the next 10 days.

If one of them is realistic? idk... i personally wish we suddenly put a bid for Hernanes from Lazio. A realistic target who fits the role, and will work good with Ramires. If not... GO VAN GINKEL!

[The Skipper 20,609]

You can't really make conclusions about whether he's our main man in midfield after 2 games.

[nadavTKL 1,787]

You can't really make conclusions about whether he's our main man in midfield after 2 games.

If in a few games it will be MVG i'll be very happy, lets see. But it will be a surprise.

[Peace. 4,352]

I didn't see the match, though, the feedbacks about him that I could read upon this forum don't surprise me in the slightest — it was to be expected. Actually, it confirms the opinion I had on him and his role within the team that I had after the Hull game and that I even had last season. He must be given a limited role within the team and his playing time must be restricted to a certain type of opponents — especially if we continue to play in a 4-2-3-1 formation.

The biggest reproach I have toward him is the fact that he is still playing just as if he was still 25 years-old and playing at the top of a three-men midfield. He goes way too high on the pitch for a player who's supposed to play in the pivot. And this fact alone induces a lots of disruptions for the team.

First of all, as nowadays he lacks of mobility, when we lose the ball possession, it takes him time to leave his high-up position and to go back into his central midfield position. It weakens our defensive unity, especially the few seconds after the loss of the ball (in other words, when the opponents start a counter attack), as it leaves spaces, and it allows our opponents to out-number us for a few moments.

Secondly, as Choulo has hinted it, he disrupts the operating of our advanced midfielders by getting in their playing area, he provokes a congestion in this part of the pitch. When you have Oscar, Mata and Hazard on the pitch, this area will always tend to be naturally congested... This is a probleme. And furthermore, aside of goals-threat, he doesn't offer anything in this area of the field. He cannot penetrate the opponent's defensive line, because he is slow and not agile, and isn't a good dribbler. Plus, he isn't an asset in the game building in the last third of the pitch, because his passing game is slow and isn't that good anymore.

Then, once again as Choulo has hinted, he makes difficult the work that his partner has to accomplish, because in the one hand his partner is forced to stay deep to cover Lampard ; which limits what this partner can bring to the table, especialy when it's Ramires, which is a shame because he is so good in that box-to-box role. And on the second hand, his partner has to accomplish an extra defensive work.

However, that's not all. It's not a secret to anyone — we're extremely slow in the building of our attacks. The base of our attack, i.e. the pivot, has a major responsability in it. And unfortunatly, Lampard doesn't help to pump-up the speed of the build of the game. As I aforementioned, his passing game is too slow and isn't good enough anymore. When you add the fact that we don't have any playmaker next to him, then it's a big problem for our game-building. Moreover, he isn't good at shielding the ball and keeping the hold on the possession of the ball. He lacks mobility, he lacks dribbling technique, he takes time to deliver the ball — as a matter of fact, whenever the opposition put pressure upon our midfield, he tends to lose the ball easily. And, defensively, his contribution is limited.

The bottom line is that in my opinion, when you analyze the pros and the cons of his impact on our play, the cons considerably outweigh the pros. Therefore, he must be used as squad player to give a rest to the players who are in the starting eleven, when we're facing the smallest of our opponents. He definitely shouldn't be a starter against the big teams (i.e. ManU, ManC, Tottenham, Arsenal, etc... and also the big european teams), nor against the smaller teams which won't park the bus, and which will either offer a real battle in the midfield or will counter-attack us to death. The Hulls of this world are about the level of oppsotions against whom Lampard should start (these teams that are more than happy to sit back for 90 minutes while hoping to get a lucky point).

My words are no bashing. In life, all the good things eventually come to an end — it's hard, but we should not hang on the past.

[Phil Driver 503]

All good things do come to an end a natural end and that is still a way off yet,certain to start at Old Trafford and rightly so ,his experience will be crucial up there,thankfully we have the best manager in the world running the club now and not whoever was running the club when they said Lampard could go .

[Phil Driver 503]

You can't really make conclusions about whether he's our main man in midfield after 2 games.

True but I can after 400 odd?

[Gilvorak 3,734]

Despite his poor game his brilliant delivery still led to the winner.

Him and Mata are the only two genuine match winners in the squad. Players that score/assist at crucial times, the likes of Hazard, Oscar etc arent there yet.

[The Skipper 20,609]

Despite his poor game his brilliant delivery still led to the winner.

Him and Mata are the only two genuine match winners in the squad. Players that score/assist at crucial times, the likes of Hazard, Oscar etc arent there yet.

I'd say you can put Ivanovic in that group too.

[Rubber bullets 1,183]

Jose's love affair with this guy is truly disturbing.

[NishC300 1,865]

Super Frank when he had to hand the MOTM award to Terry: "I'm good at this, eh?"

[CHOULO19 24,332]

Jose's love affair with this guy is truly disturbing.

Sadly, I have to agree. Very worrying indeed.

[kellzfresh 7,229]

Lost the ball a lot, no energy from him, please dont play against bayern