A sign that Lampard will retire from International football?

[Rubber bullets 1,183]

Once again the England formation forced Lampard to sit in a deep-lying role in midfield to accompany Stevie Me to be the main attacking force. While he certainly did not play bad with some neat passing and strong discipline to keep the midfield in tact he could not do what he does best: going forward to help with the attack because Gerrard is always in that position because, lets face it, he is ill disciplined to be part of a team effort because he always has to go for glory and will try to do everything himself at the expense of the team mates, but he will get the credit when England wins because he is the national golden boy - unfortunately while Lampard is the easy target for criticism - despite his hard work to fill in the gaps in the midfield left by Gerrard due to him being greedy.

England won by Gerrard scoring two goals with no Lampard on the field. Admittedly it was because Gerard was in the midfield with Barry staying in the middle and there were two wingers, meaning that Gerrard could leave his position without others having to fill the big gaps left behind him. Unfortunately when Lampard is on he always has to play with Gerrard and automatically Gerrard starts to wonder in the attack which forces Lampard to sit behind with Barry which stops him showing his true ability. I think this could be a sign that Capello will only use Gerrard and won't bother with Lampard unless Gerrard will get injured. And even then if Lampard was playing well due to not having to cover for anybody else going forward like he does at Chelsea, Gerrard will automatically get his place back because he is some sort of untouchable who will get in regardless of his club performances.

I think it would be best if Lampard quits international football and forces all of his attention on Chelsea. Despite his hard working attitude and willingness to adapt he won't be accepted by England fans because they see Gerrard as the better player who must be in the England squad. Even though Lampard always gives consistent good performances for Chelsea, scoring 20 goals every season and Gerrard only plays well if Liverpool plays well, like last season where he was virtually non-existent. He should not waste energy on England as he will always be the scapegoat when things go wrong and its clear that he is not wanted by England fans.

I fear his overall performances may decline if he continues to try and play for England. Look at Paul Scholes, he was 31 when he retied and was considered not important for England and was seen to be having a decline in performances for Man Utd.. Yet when he did retire from England his overall performance ratings went up. I think Lampard should do what Scholes did so he spends more years for Chelsea and continues to win silverware.

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From a selfish point of view I'd prefer that he did retire, I dont think he's that kind of person though. I dont think him or Terry will withdraw themselves from selection early. Dont forget Scholes was probably put under alot of pressure from Ferguson to retire when he did.

Didnt see the game tonight but England have never been able to get the best out of Frank, or any other player for that matter.

[gary gordon 1,777]

I don't think he will.. I have doubts about him being around till brazil 2014. But I reckon the euros will be his swansong..

[EskWeston 696]

The preference for England (mistakingly) has always been to try and get the best out of Gerrard than of Lampard. We are probably the only country that would not focus on getting the best out of one of the best ever goalscoring midfielders...............

[Madmax 9,219]

I think Frank's too classy to turn his back on England. I don't think he'll ever make himself unavailable for selection.

[BlueLion. 21,491]

Agreed. Frank is much like his old man and finds being called up to play for England an honour, I can't ever see him turning his back on the Three Lions.

[LDN Blue 7,903]

Agreed with Esk. It's actually the most frustrating thing that they favour Gerrard over Lampard, who's clearly the better player. I think McClaren even identified this, he tried to get the best out of Lampard but he screwed up the team as a whole anyway.

Agree with Madmax too. Lampard's not the type to retire because of this. He, much like Beckham, will always make himself available for international selection, it's a shame he'll never have the honour of being England captain behind the beloved Stevie Me.

[Luke 60]

It is frustrating that Frankie is the one of the best free scoring midfielders in world football but doesnt get to play in his best position for England.

[NattyBlue 44]

Lampard, simply put. Is the best Midfielder England have and the best they will have had for 20 more years.

I want him to retire from the England team, it doesn't help him at all and they believe they'll be better off without him. I'm sick of all the comments regarding him that fans do. You would think that Gerrard never plays bad. The right decision for his actual England career would be to retire, the fans don't want him and his blatant compromise of position that we've seen over the years means the managers don't want him either but don't want to drop him, for what reason I don't know. If they drop him and lose games then people will complain. He should hang up his international boots.