Don't understand why people love berating Gerrard. 

 

There's being bias and there's just being blinded by tribalism. 

 

Lamps and Gerrard are both fantastic players and were world class at their peak. Different type of midfielder to which you can't really compare. Gerrard is more of a natural footballer, while Lamps is a more athletically consistent.

Lampard now 2nd in all time outfield appearances behind Giggs. Fantastic achievement.

 

Lamps is 5 years younger than Giggs but I can't see him surpassing him

Was just comparing his career to Gerrard's.  How anyone could think Gerrard is a better footballer is beyond me.  Frank has been a complete footballer for so many years.  His goal scoring, clutch goals, box to box play was so much greater than Stevie.  He's also helped us win just about every trophy imaginable.  Frank >>>> Gerrard.

Gerrard is the better athlete, a truly phenomenal athlete. But as a footballer Lampard is miles ahead. In practically every way you could name.

Don't understand why people love berating Gerrard.

There's being bias and there's just being blinded by tribalism.

Lamps and Gerrard are both fantastic players and were world class at their peak. Different type of midfielder to which you can't really compare. Gerrard is more of a natural footballer, while Lamps is a more athletically consistent.

I don't think I have ever read a post on here that I disagree with more.

Happy to spend time arguing this out. In what way is Gerrard more of a natural footballer?

Edited March 8, 201412 yr by just

Lampard seems to get a lot of abuse from other supporters even when playing for England which I don't really understand.

 

When you consider that Gerrard is a dirty player (usually goes unpunished)  as well as the fact that he has been in court for assaulting a nightclub DJ and has vouched for a Scouse underworld figure (who then went on the run) I don't know why the media and pundits have such an obsession with Gerrard. He is a great footballer but It's embarrassing seeing pundits like Owen and Carragher have a w***fest over 'Stevie'

 

Frank has never put a foot wrong on or off the pitch and has had a much more distinguished career than Gerrard so I won't be losing any sleep

Frank Lampard is the most iconic english player of his generation, period.

 

Well said, Soulo!

I don't think I have ever read a post on here that I disagree with more.

Happy to spend time arguing this out. In what way is Gerrard more of a natural footballer?

 

Frank for me, was a late bloomer. Gerrard seems to have more natural talent while Frank has had to work harder on his game. I also feel Gerrard is slightly more versatile. He's played on the wing, as a deep midfielder, an attacking midfielder, a central midfielder and spells at fullback if I remember right? 

 

Don't take it the wrong way. I would rather have Frank any day of the week. For me, he's among the best players to have ever graced the Premier League and you would do well to find a better Lampard fan. Of all the years I've watched the Premier League, Gerrard just seems to have more natural talent. Don't get me wrong, Frank is a talented player, but I feel his intelligence and fitness are his biggest assets rather than raw talent. 

 

That's my opinion. 

Edited March 9, 201412 yr by JoeyN

i think gerrard gets more support because he is a more eye-catching, English-style player. he's all blood and thunder. when i think of gerrard i think of last-ditch tackles, last minute goals and lots of heart. all of those things are the things that English fans generally appreciate, but i think Lampard is a more effective player. Lampard defends just as well, if not better, than gerrard, but because he doesnt make last-ditch sliding tackles most people dont appreciate that fact. the reason he doesnt make those type of tackles? because he is tactically very good, and rarely caught out of position.

It truly makes me sad to see sources, even our own WAGNH, lament what Frank often brings to the side now: http://weaintgotnohistory.sbnation.com/2014/3/30/5564174/crystal-palace-chelsea-player-ratings-man-of-the-match

 

I wonder if this is the last of this legendary player in Chelsea history.

It truly makes me sad to see sources, even our own WAGNH, lament what Frank often brings to the side now: http://weaintgotnohistory.sbnation.com/2014/3/30/5564174/crystal-palace-chelsea-player-ratings-man-of-the-match

 

I wonder if this is the last of this legendary player in Chelsea history.

 

There's not many players who are able to contribute at such a high level at 36.

 

He still has something to offer the team but shouldn't be starting many games and should mostly come on as a sub in my opinion.

 

I can't single Frank out at the weekend considering how dire Matic and Luiz were alongside him in the middle.... It was a woeful team performance with no one covering themselves in glory (expect Cech) from that game. 

6 years ago today (or about now) Frankies Mum passed aged just 58.

Thought it might be appropriate to post in her memory as she was such an influence on one of our greatest players life.

Also as Frank is clearly coming towards the latter stages of his playing career a time to reflect on what a legend Frank has been for Chelsea and England

Deepest respect to both of them and the rest of the Lampard family and thank you for your loyalty to Chelsea

Captain, leader, legend on Sunday ?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytAFYs2bYA8

I still get choked up every time I watch that penalty and Frank's reaction... I'm such a cry baby. 

That makes two of us!

That penalty and the champions league final victory are the only two times I have shed a tear in football

Edited April 24, 201412 yr by Zola

Anybody particularly us Blues knew the significance and utter professionalism of that moment, x

This will sound odd but I think that is my favourite Chelsea moment. Not the goal against Bolton, not Diders header or pen in Munich, not Robbie in The FA Cup final, that moment there. In a massive game with every reason not to and Ballack next to you, Lampard stepping up and scoring that was immense and will live with me for a very long time.

Stuck in the middle with him

Frank Lampard says he will do all he can today to deny the Liverpool captain the one prize that has eluded him

LAMPARD and Gerrard. Lampard versus Gerrard. It was probably — let’s be honest, we’ve seen them for England — always more a rivalry than a partnership. Never one, though, lacking in appreciation or respect.

Common paths lead to kinship and these great midfield allrounders, with their epic careers, have journeyed at the same time for so hard and for so long. They have the understanding of adventurers who have climbed the same mountain via different slopes.

What has it taken to be Frank Lampard? Steven Gerrard has a better idea than most. Where do you place the prowess and feats of Gerrard? Lampard is as good a witness as anyone.

It is fitting that as Gerrard closes on the prize that will complete him, Lampard stands in his path. Beat Chelsea and Liverpool will be able almost to touch the Premier League title. Simply avoid defeat and glory will still be near their grasp.

Liverpool and Gerrard were the barriers Chelsea couldn’t overcome in their first assaults on the trophy that Lampard needed for his own fulfilment. He had to wait until 2012 to win the Champions League. As Gerrard had, seven years earlier, Lampard hoisted that trophy as a captain. The achievement gave him the edge on his peer in terms of honours but should Gerrard claim the Premier League, they’ll be equal again: two golden CVs with no (at club level) gaps.

Both voted footballer of the year by the Football Writers’ Association in past seasons; both capped more than 100 times for England. And with John Terry injured and expected to miss the rest of Chelsea’s Premier League season, both are captains today, meeting in the Anfield centre-circle to exchange the firm handshake of competitors but the knowing look of fellow travellers.

“Stevie will go down as a great player no matter what, with the record he’s got,” Lampard said. “He’s won pretty much everything else anyway. He’ll be striving to win [the Premier League] because it’s that one little space in his trophy cabinet. As a player he obviously deserves that. But there’s no sentiment from us. We want to win it.”

Gerrard has admitted seeing pictures of Lampard and Terry holding the Premier League trophy and being gnawed by envy. Title ambitions were what made Gerrard seriously consider interest from Chelsea in 2005. “We respect the fact Stevie’s been a great player,” Lampard said. “I don’t think he lives or dies by the fact they win the league this year or not. He’s a great player anyway.”

“We go again,” Gerrard’s already iconic battle cry to Liverpool, articulated a relentlessness Lampard must recognise. He aches to add a fourth Premier League title to his collection and although Chelsea are third-favourites now, he’s not ready to give up on his chances.

Jose Mourinho talks of choosing a weakened XI today to save players for Wednesday’s Champions League semi-final second leg against Atletico Madrid (for which Lampard is suspended). But treat that carefully. “Liverpool are in the driving seat but it’s very tight and we can’t [give up on the league]” Lampard said.

“All we can do now is win our three games and hope results go our way. It’s not in our hands. But we’re not a club that’s going to sit back and accept anything. We have to try and win and see where that takes us.

“We’ve got it in us to go and get results. Liverpool have had a fantastic season and it’s a tough set of games but if you want to be successful and to fight on different levels, as we do, then you have to stand up and do it. We’ll take Anfield as it comes. It’s up to the manager how he ducks and dives with the squad to be as strong as we can for both games. They’re two games we want to win.”

Lampard is a survivor of all 10 Champions League showdowns Chelsea and Liverpool enjoyed/endured in that remarkable sequence between 2005 and 2009. He knows how big this fixture can be and how it feels to perish in the heat of Anfield — but also what it takes to prevail there. The old gauntlet must be run again.

Lampard’s advice to his teammates? “Just try to enjoy it because if you don’t and you want to let it get the better of you, then it probably can do. As a top player at a top club you have to stand up to environments, to atmospheres.

“Liverpool is a very particular one and it can’t have a negative effect on us. We have to try and use it positively. It’s a massive lift for them playing at home. You can imagine how they’re going to be but we’re not going into anything we don’t know. We’re aware of it so we have to go there and deal with it.”

The weight of 24 years without the title has not yet pushed down on Liverpool. Lampard hopes it still might. “Every club has pressure for different reasons. We’ve got pressure. We want to win titles. We haven’t done it for the past few years and we’ve been way off the pace, so there’s pressure we put on ourselves. I’m sure there’s pressure on Liverpool, too. It’s a massive club that hasn’t won it for a long time. Their fans, the whole club, are going to want to do it.

“They’re on a roll and feel very confident,” he said. “All that matters, rather than the talk, is what happens on the pitch. Watching their recent games [i can see] they’re very up for it. They’re trying as much as they can to win the league. But we’ll fight to the end.”

No team have beaten Liverpool in the league since December 29. And who was that? Chelsea. That left Liverpool fifth at the halfway stage, two points ahead of Manchester United and four short of Chelsea.

“It shows what a great run they’ve been on. People were expecting them to drop away,” Lampard conceded. “They haven’t had any distractions and they’ve been concentrating on the league.”

A subplot today is that for the first time in five seasons, Gerrard is outscoring Lampard. They both know that. They keep an eye on each other’s exploits, albeit an admiring one.

I feel like he has one great Chelsea moment left in him, could it be this afternoon?

I feel like he has one great Chelsea moment left in him, could it be this afternoon?

 

After those Twitter taunts about his mother the other day, I say it would be just a case of karma deservedly "biting them on the arse".

But Stevie Me is better because he's scouse remember.

Well in all fairness he's racked up a goal and two assists for Chelsea without making a single appearance -  I'm sure only a truly phenomenal player could achieve that.

Another little feature from Frank in The Times today:

What I’ve learnt: Frank Lampard

England vice-captain Frank Lampard, 35, started his career at West Ham United, following in the footsteps of his father, Frank Lampard Sr, before moving to Chelsea in 2001. He has two daughters with his former fiancée, Elen Rivas, and is now engaged to TV presenter Christine Bleakley, with whom he lives in London.

I’m not “intelligent for a footballer”. It’s patronising when people tell me I am. It’s belittling to everyone else in the game, because there are lots of intelligent players. I did a good IQ test once and was fortunate enough to have good schooling, but that’s it. Some days I can be pretty stupid.

Don’t be a sheep. About ten years ago, when everyone was buying big blingy watches, I bought one, too. It took me about a year to realise that I was only wearing it because everyone else was, and that, actually, I really didn’t like it. I was going out with mates, driving a flashy car, and it took me a while to understand that I didn’t have to do that. I’ve kept the watch, as a reminder of what I should never be. And because nobody wants to buy it off me.

Just because you kick a ball in front of thousands of people, it doesn’t make you a confident character. I’ve been in dressing rooms with people who seem like heroes on the pitch, but then go right back into their shells the moment they’re off.

For a while, I lost sight of how great it is to play for England. I went through a patch in my career when, for various reasons, I wasn’t really enjoying it that much. I grew up watching Gazza and Gary Lineker; that seemed like the pinnacle, but sometimes when you actually get there, it doesn’t always feel like it. When you’re living that life, you don’t take it all in.

I’m old school. I’ve got two girls and I want them to be proper little ladies. I hate it if we go to a restaurant and they don’t say “please” and “thank you” to the waiter. Sometimes you wonder where those good old-fashioned manners have gone.

There’s no point in having talent if you don’t apply it. It’s like there are different aspects to talent. There’s God-given ability, as with Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo. But what you won’t see is the hours of training and sacrifice they’ve put in. There are so many kids with ability who have drifted out of the game because they wouldn’t harness what they had.

I’ll beat anyone at Connect Four. When I was Christmas shopping, I saw it on sale. I hadn’t played it for years, but I got it for the kids. Only so I could show them who’s boss.

The influx of foreign players is the best thing that’s ever happened to the English game. It gets a lot of stick, but it’s upped the quality. At West Ham, I didn’t really meet many foreign players and I lived in a bit of a bubble. But after going to Chelsea I picked up living habits, eating habits and training habits from people such as Gianfranco Zola and Marcel Desailly. They were so much more forward-thinking and comfortable in themselves.

The most mundane things will keep me up all night. Stuff like, “Will I have enough time to get from one meeting to another tomorrow?” I don’t sleep the best. I’m quite a thinker. I can relax when I’m playing football, but even when I’m on holiday, there’s always part of me that clings to what’s going on back home.

The people who told me that your thirties are the best years of your life were right. I used to think, “Er, no, they’re not – 18 to 25 is obviously the best.” But now I’m a lot more at ease with myself.

I’m a football fan like everybody else. I’ll sit there shouting at the telly. I get it.

Edited May 31, 201412 yr by Huttsey

That's what I like and admire from Lord Lampard, gonna miss him when goes, Chelseas finest!!

The influx of foreign players is the best thing that’s ever happened to the English game. It gets a lot of stick, but it’s upped the quality. At West Ham, I didn’t really meet many foreign players and I lived in a bit of a bubble. But after going to Chelsea I picked up living habits, eating habits and training habits from people such as Gianfranco Zola and Marcel Desailly. They were so much more forward-thinking and comfortable in themselves.

 

With all the complaining about English players being marginalized, this doesn't get said often enough.