Frank Lampard

[OneMoSalah 8,883]

People who do not understand football and there are many think if Lampard is not scoring goals he is not playing well,he will not be scoring as many goals from his new position particularly against the likes of City ,what he will do is match up to people like Toure his passing and tackling was brilliant yesterday and he got a yellow card as did Rammy this is because they did not let City waltz past them as we usually do,Rammy and Frank were top class yesterday .

Ramires has been excellent since he was paired with Frank after the Fulham game where he was awful and the first half at Spurs ,since they were paired we have won every game and the Lampard /Ramires engine has been key to this success. I expect the club to announce that JT and Lampard have signed to stay at the club for at least another season very soon,now we have Jose in charge of team selection and rightly so.

Rami has been excellent for Chelsea since 2011-12 season under AVB. Its not about him playing next to Lampard or anything, he's just gotten better and more consistent as a player.

Anyway when City started to press us more in the second half Lampard was invisible at times, Fernandinho was getting too much space and time to pick his passes despite the efforts of Oscar to try and stop him and that allowed Silva, Nasri and Toure to get more involved. Lampard was alright in the first half but in the second half he was quite poor. When Mikel came on we had that platform that we needed, he was just doing what he does best and it allowed us to regain control of the match. Still surprised Lampard started against City, he won't start against Arsenal for sure but I have no idea who will to be honest.

JT will get a new contract but I don't think Lampard will because I think he will retire. If he is our starting CM at 36 then somebody at Chelsea needs a head check. Jose said he was going to handle him like Makalele in his last year, playing him in the bigger games but hes been overused already and I'm surprised he's not picked up any niggling injuries yet due to playing near enough 90 minutes every game.

[Phil Driver 503]

You are right he wil not start v Arsenal nor will Rammy our back up players will play,but you are totally wrong about Lampard retiring and that will be shown to you very soon Jose will be offering a new deal ,remember how he judges players on performance not age and Zannetti won the champions League with Jose at 37 .

City had more of the play because they flooded midfield and that left Rammy and Frank outnumbered,but it did allow our three to attack City and create . Frank and Rammy matching up against their midfield allowed us to create chances although they were ounumbered. Mikel will start v Arsenal if you have no idea and it will be a very big game for him that we are expected to win and carry on our good form. Lets see if he is up to it?

[kellzfresh 7,229]

Jose said he was going to handle him like Makalele in his last year, playing him in the bigger games but hes been overused already and I'm surprised he's not picked up any niggling injuries yet due to playing near enough 90 minutes every game.

Lampard is one of the most fit players ever to play football. He rarely gets injured, thats another attribute he has that is underestimated.

[OneMoSalah 8,883]

Lampard is one of the most fit players ever to play football. He rarely gets injured, thats another attribute he has that is underestimated.

Yes but looking at how his seasons probably gonna be going, playing say 10 plus consecutive games at 35 years old with little rest means you can pick up little injuries. Doesn't matter how fit you are, if you don't have a sufficient amount of rest then you will pick up niggling injuries. Older players are more fragile, Jose will have to eventually rest him just to make sure. He'll rest him on Tuesday which is good.

[The only place to be 11,313]

Anyway when City started to press us more in the second half Lampard was invisible at times, Fernandinho was getting too much space and time to pick his passes despite the efforts of Oscar to try and stop him and that allowed Silva, Nasri and Toure to get more involved.

Despite all that time to pick out his passes, Fernandinho was limited to 77% passing accuracy.

Frank, despite some of the comments on here, matched Rami for passing accuracy, had a team-high number of interceptions and effectively cleared the ball 4 times (to Ramires's 1) despite playing little more than an hour.

It was certainly a dip in his stats compared to the last four matches but in tight games that can happen.

[didierforever 7,349]

does every player get the stick on here who plays in the DM role. mikel, then rambo, then luiz and now frank. we ll be satisfied only with DDR or ALONSO.

thank god i was not here when ballack was here, i would have literally killed people.

[ChelseasMessiah 304]

Despite all that time to pick out his passes, Fernandinho was limited to 77% passing accuracy.

Frank, despite some of the comments on here, matched Rami for passing accuracy, had a team-high number of interceptions and effectively cleared the ball 4 times (to Ramires's 1) despite playing little more than an hour.

It was certainly a dip in his stats compared to the last four matches but in tight games that can happen.

Fenandinho's passing stats are not really relevant as he was the one player in charge of playing through balls, long diagonal passes, etc.

[Jase 43,479]

does every player get the stick on here who plays in the DM role. mikel, then rambo, then luiz and now frank. we ll be satisfied only with DDR or ALONSO.

thank god i was not here when ballack was here, i would have literally killed people.

Lampard has basically been getting stick for playing the pivot since last season..

[Phil Driver 503]

Stats,lies and damn statistics,it seems stats apply to some players more than others on here.

[didierforever 7,349]

Lampard has basically been getting stick for playing the pivot since last season..

not this much. he was good yesterday. he surpassed my expectations by a mile. the comments on here make it sound like he was abysmal. i understand henrique saying it cos he is well.... but even others are critisizing his performance. very unfair, i feel.

[OneMoSalah 8,883]

Despite all that time to pick out his passes, Fernandinho was limited to 77% passing accuracy.

Frank, despite some of the comments on here, matched Rami for passing accuracy, had a team-high number of interceptions and effectively cleared the ball 4 times (to Ramires's 1) despite playing little more than an hour.

It was certainly a dip in his stats compared to the last four matches but in tight games that can happen.

Yes Fernandinho maybe only completed 77% of his passes but his influence in the game grew in the second half, he was controlling the game for most of the second half until about the 75th minute or so when we put much more pressure on them.

[kellzfresh 7,229]

He was fantastic in the first half, he was in the thick of the action. The yellow card made him more cautious and reserved in the second half thats really what happened.

[ChelseasMessiah 304]

I feel he does not belong in that position, that's my gripe, knowing how much better we could be if we had a player made for that role. I wouldn't mind seeing Frank as the AM in a 4-3-3 in some games for example, but not in the pivot in a 4-2-3-1.

I wonder what the people who are saying he was good yesterday would be saying if Hart hadn't given us that early Christmas gift.

To prove I wasn't being unfair when I said he was poor, here are two match ratings from goal.com (yes, I know) and the dailymail:

"The 35-year-old was overwhelmed by the pace of the game and the industry of City's midfield. Tends to look increasingly pedestrian in the marquee matches - and this was no exception. Subbed after 65 minutes."

"Struggled to get into the game and once he was booked early on, he couldn't afford to take any more risks"

[Phil Driver 503]

Some of Lampard's link play and one touch quick passing was fantastic,that is what you need when in posession in that role,Lampards direct opponent was Toure who usually owns us,not this time though.

[Phil Driver 503]

Messiah has done his usual and googled every paper and publication to find one that is negative on Lampard,which paper compared Mikel to Zidane when he came on?