Will Lampard accept being a sub?

With our latest coup, the fantastic piece of business in the tangible shape of a 6''4 footballing beast, signed to strengthen our scarcest department - CM.

How do we, Chelsea fans, see Lampard's reaction to being on the bench after having played - at times - 3 times in a week this season?

The reason I'm asking this is we all know Frank isn't really fond of being a sub - refer to ABV and whoever else tried to move him on - as he always believed in playing as much as he could to keep sharp.

I have to say I'm not a fan of him being in centre midfield in a 4-2-3-1, and it's safe to say it's no coincidence we didn't even look like conceding a goal in his absence with Mikel/ Luiz and Ramires as we are a much more balanced and fluid side without his soon-to-be 36 year old legs in there. A collective level of play that will - undoubtedly - be exponentially elevated once Matic is fully re-acclimatised and bedded into our first 11 next to Ramires.

Now given what Lampard said on an interview last November, I'm not sure how he will respond to it. Here are the quotes:

""We've got a lot of attacking talent in the team and the manager has got to try and get the best out of that," Lampard, who ended a 10-game run without a top-flight goal at the weekend, said.

"I'm playing pretty regularly at the minute and I feel fit and strong.

"I want to show that I am good enough to carry on playing and I'll try to do that.

I don't want to be a passenger sitting on the bench not doing much, even in my older years.

"As you get older you adapt your game and you probably don't bomb up and down as much as you always did, but you can use your experience, and whether you're deeper or not, if you've got a little bit of license to get forward then you can do at the right times.""

The phrase that really stands out is the "I don't want to be a passenger sitting on the bench not doing much, even in my older years." His idea of being a passenger is different to mine, but that's irrelevant in this context. What is important is that it does suggest he won't be too happy with a reduced role, even at his age.


If it were up to me, Lampard would be a super-sub getting a few minutes here and there off the bench, or the attacking midfielder in a 4-3-3, with two players behind him. But only in cup/ lesser games when we need to rest a few of our attacking midfielders.

It will be interesting to see how things unfold in the next couple of weeks, let's hope Mourinho does the right thing for the team though. I feel with Matic and the team finally gelling we could push for the PL title.