At the start of the season I wasn't too sure if Lampard should be in the starting line-up this season. It seemed that nearly everyone here thought the same, some wanted him no where near the bench, some even wanted him out.
Everyone said the same thing: 'Lampard is a Chelsea legend but he is way past his best'. Exactly what I thought, that's why I was quite disappointed when we didn't get Modric but we got Meireles instead.
However to his credit he has proved me, and a few others, completely wrong. He is currently our top scorer and is joined 6th top scorer and most goals from midfield this season along with Van der Vaart. He, along with Juan Mata, has the most assists in the league for Chelsea so far with 4. Overall in 15 appearances he has 7 goals and 5 assists.
I thought he was way past it, but these stats are the kind of stats just your normal 'Frank Lampard' receives every season. He might be a bit slower now but he has never been quick. His stamina may not be as good as it was before but it is still excellent and he's is 33. He is one of the best, if not the best, professionals in the game.
However I still hear Chelsea fans, some on this board, saying that he shouldn't be starting even though he has clearly contributed the most. Some will say Mata and Danny have been superb, and they definitely have, but according to the stats he has contributed more than they have this season. Sturridge has scored 5 and made 1 in 8 appearances, Mata has scored 3 and made 4 in 10 games.
Therefore there is no reason why he should be dropped. I know some of the arguments are: 'Ramires is the engine of our team and our best midfielder', 'Meireles adds the creative spark we need', 'Mikel's role is vital with our current defensive situation', 'Romeu has performed well so far so he should be given a chance', 'AVB wants the team to be playing at a quicker pace' etc. These are all valid arguments which I all agree with.
But what do you think would've happened if we haven't been playing Lampard this season?
Lampard
posted on 5/11/11
Yes Lampard had a terrible miss against Ghenk but what is more worrying is that he is the one getting in those scoring positions.
At the moment none of our strikers are getting on the end of a pass, they are not threatening at all.
Lampard right now is our most likely to score player and whilst our forwards continue to be poor we can´t drop him.
But he was our best midfield player by a mile today anyhow with or without the goal.
The problem is he can´t do it for 90 minutes anymore and he should be coming of at the 70 minute mark.
posted on 5/11/11
Don't get me wrong, Lampard is a true legend and a world-class player in his prime. But how many good performances have we seen from him this season? Forget about goals and assists otherwise we're all hypocrites as we all want Malouda dropped when he has been a regular source of goals and assists the past 2 seasons. The only one I could say would be Bolton. The rest have either been rubbish (at the start) or ok/decent (more recently). I think we should be expecting more. Mikel has been ok/decent I think this season and we get people saying he should be 5th choice DM. Torres on average has been ok/decent overall and many people want him dropped , it's the same for me here. Not that Lampard has been truly bad but I think with the players we have we can have a better, more dynamic midfield
posted on 5/11/11
The midfield I posted above would be much better for the forwards than one with both Mikel and Lampard in. One of the reasons we have dropped Drogba and people wanted him dropped last season was that we relied on him and just hoofed it up to him when in trouble? Maybe this is a similar situation.
Sorry I didn't watch the match today but out of the matches I've watched this season like I said only in the Bolton one has he truly impressed me.
posted on 5/11/11
I think Lampard has been excellent since he came on as a sun against Fulham in the CC.
I agree about the downside of playing Mikel and Lampard together. It is the same problem when we played Mikel and Ballack together.
That is why for me our best three is
Romeu, Ramires and Lampard/Miereles
posted on 5/11/11
I don't know what else to say about Lampard.
Yes, he scores goals, and makes some assists, but for some reason...I still don't think it's good enough for our midfield.
Our midfield needs the likes of oriols and Matas in abundance!
posted on 5/11/11
5*
How can anyone slate Lampard now? In brilliant form. To think some people want us to start Romeu ahead of him
posted on 5/11/11
i dont think anybody is slating lampard’s performance but I agree with Biggish with the comment he made in the previous article. the concern is lampard fades away in the later stages and the fact that he cant start every game, its a worry for me
posted on 5/11/11
Lampard is just too good and will always be my first name on the team sheet. He has put in another great performance today. There is no one in our team who can offer us what Lampard offers us.
Untill we find a better midfielder then Lampard we are going to stick with him and I still think he has another 3 years left in him.
posted on 5/11/11
BK - Lampard has been better then any of our midfielders this season. I don't understand why everyone seems to pick out Lampards poor preformances but Ramires seems to always get away with his poor performances. He was just awful today.
posted on 6/11/11
Goals win matches, I like players who take their chances and score, it makes the manager look good so I like Lampard also I hate players who don't score, they make the manager look naive, inexperienced and out of his depth, I hate such player. Lampard should remain in the team as long as he keep popping up with goals every now and then while players who repeatedly squander scoring chances should be dropped, thats the way to run a club, no sentiments attached, if the manager can't do that then he gets dropped. Simple.