Tag Archives: Lampard

Lampard still on the mend

Posted on by
Reply

Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti admits Frank Lampard is at least two weeks away from returning to action and will miss some crucial games for both club and country (Chelsea 3/10 to beat Marseille in the Champions League).

The 32-year-old has been out of action for a month and has not played since the Blues beat Stoke 2-0 in their third Premier League match of the season.

In his absence, the Stamford Bridge outfit had maintained a 100 per cent record until Saturday’s 1-0 reverse at Manchester City saw them drop points for the first time this term.

However, with Manchester United failing to secure all three points at Bolton and Arsenal being beaten by West Brom at the Emirates Stadium, Chelsea are still top of the league with a three-point lead over the Red Devils.

Lampard has been a vital part of Chelsea’s success over the past few seasons with his ability to score vital goals from midfield and fire accurate passes to create goal-scoring opportunities for the club’s array of attacking men.

But he was forced to go under the surgeon’s knife to correct a hernia problem four weeks ago and will play no part as Chelsea host the French side on Tuesday night, before welcoming the Gunners to west London on Sunday.

The Premier League will then take a short break as international football returns to the calendar, with England facing a crucial Euro 2012 qualifier with Montenegro and Ancelotti does not believe he will be fit enough to play for the national side (England 9/1 to win Euro 2012).

“He can’t play on Tuesday. We need to have more time than we expected for his rest,” he said. “In a few days there will be an international break and he will be ready for the first game after the break.

“He didn’t play with us so I don’t think he is able to play for the national team.”

Lampard’s team-mate John Obi Mikel feels that Chelsea do have enough strength in depth to cover for the loss of the experienced Lampard but he admits they would much rather have him in the side.

“There are other players who can do a similar job to Frank but it is a massive loss to the team,” he said. “I think we are coping well without him, but he is a fantastic player and we can’t wait to have him back.”

Bet on the World Cup and get £200. Click here to visit Bet365 and claim your free money.

Lampard impressed by Chelsea

Posted on by
Reply

Frank Lampard has poured cold water on claims that Chelsea are too old to win the Champions League (Chelsea 11/2 outright).

Lampard is confident Chelsea can lift the trophy at Wembley in May, finally securing the honour for the Blues – who won the Premier League and FA Cup double in Carlo Ancelotti’s first season in charge at Stamford Bridge last term.

The 32-year-old does not believe that there are any concerns over the age of the squad, though Nicolas Anelka, Yossi Benayoun and Didier Drogba are all over 30 and John Terry and Ashley Cole both 29.

Lampard is relieved to be available again after suffering a hernia injury which ruled him out of England’s opening two Euro 2012 qualifiers, and is loving life with the Blues, who sit top of the Premie League.

He said in the the Daily Star Sunday: “It is a load of rubbish when I hear talk about there only being one or two years left in our spine. This has been going on for a year or so.

“Sometimes that is mind games from other managers, or press talk. But we proved them wrong last year.

“We have got players here who are experienced and you can’t buy experience in football. Look at Didier, he will overpower any player who is 24 or 25.

“People have been talking about Paul Scholes and rightly so. If you took him out of the United team now, they’d need to replace him – and probably wouldn’t be able to.”

Meanwhile, Ancelotti has denied coming under pressure to win the Champions League from owner Roman Abramovich.

Reports have claimed that the Russian was insisting on European success, putting pressure on the manager as he takes his team into the Champions League campaign with a match against MSK Zilna on Wednesday night.

But the Italian says most of the pressure he feels comes from within himself.

Ancelotti said: “I speak with Roman a lot, but he is not obsessed with the Champions League He wants to win everything, but he’s not desperate. I don’t have pressure from outside.

“I want to put myself under pressure because I want to win, he wants a team with a clear identity and we have created that.”

In last season’s Champions League they were unbeaten in the group stages and topped their group, but were beaten 3-1 on aggregate by Inter in the first knockout round.

This season’s group stage pits them against Zilna from Slovakia, Russians Spartak Moscow and French side Marseille (Chelsea 2/9 to win the group).

Ancelotti said: “We don’t want to say the Premier League is not very important – we would like to win it again. But the normal step is to do things better than we did last season in the Champions League. We went out too early.”

Bet on the World Cup and get £200. Click here to visit Bet365 and claim your free money.

Capello must stay – Lampard

Posted on by
Reply

Frank Lampard and Fabio CapelloFabio Capello must stay on as England coach, even if the team fails against Slovenia, midfielder Frank Lampard has insisted (England 11/10 to win Group C).

Lampard was also quick to quieten the storm created by Chelsea colleague John Terry’s comments regarding Capello’s tactics.

The midfielder tried to play down the impact of Terry’s outburst as the thoughts of a player who has the passion to play for his country and who does not want to make an early exit from the tournament.

Lampard said: “I saw some of his comments and John is very passionate, as are all 23 members of this squad. He has been here a long time and is an experienced player.

“He was talking about being 100% behind the manager, that the team wanted to turn it around.

“One of us gets put up every day to speak and John was trying to convey the message that we are going to fight and try and turn things around.”

Lampard added: “I don’t like talking about meetings because the reason we have meetings together is so they can stay in-house.

“But it certainly wasn’t a crisis meeting. The manager spoke, we watched some of the Algerian game, which wasn’t the best.

“We had a look at things that we need to put right – and that was it.

“On the other hand, if the players do want to speak to the manager or (general manager) Franco Baldini, the door is always open for them to speak to them.

“I think people have jumped on things, saying it was a huge crisis meeting with people having it out. But at the meeting yesterday, we just dealt with the Algerian game.

“In terms of team selections and tactics, I’ve always grown up in football where the manager dictates those sort of things.

“If you want to speak to him, that’s fair enough, but it is the manager’s responsibility to get the best out of his players and pick the team.”

Lampard stressed the need to focus on Wednesday’s game.

“We are footballers and when the politics and the off-the-pitch stuff start taking over everything then there is something a little bit wrong.

“We have to be concentrated now on the game and what we do on the pitch.

“I try not to pay too much attention to what is written or said.

“I don’t know how everyone deals with it but as a group we have to stay strong and try not to let outside influences affect how you perform.”

Lampard has immense respect for Capello and would like him to remain in charge whatever England achieve in South Africa.

He said: “The manager did not have to reaffirm his authority at the meeting.

“He got authority from the moment he walked into this job two years ago and continues to have that.

“Everyone can see that in his manner, in his record, and the players have complete respect for him.

“I’ve really enjoyed working with him, I’ve respected everything about him and yes, I would like him to stay.

“It’s a question for him and the FA but I’ve been lucky enough to work with some fantastic managers and Fabio Capello is right up there.”

Bet on the World Cup and get £200. Click here to visit Bet365 and claim your free money.

Lampard proud of role

Posted on by
Reply

Frank Lampard (5/1 to be top England goalscorer) has spoken of his disappointment for teammate and captain Rio Ferdinand, as well as his delight in being promoted to vice-captain.

The Chelsea midfielder has profited from Ferdinand’s enforced absence through a knee ligament injury, earning Fabio Capello’s nod to be vice-captain once Steven Gerrard was named as Ferdinand’s replacement (13/8 for any England game to go to penalties).

Lampard said: “I was told by the manager and (assistant) Franco Baldini yesterday and I am very proud of that.

“Obviously I am very disappointed for Rio. He is a mate.

“But what can I do? I shall just try to give my input as a vice-captain.”

Lampard has always been close to Ferdinand and offered words of consolation to him.

“I am very disappointed for him to say the least,” said Lampard.

“I spoke to him last night and he is obviously very down.

“He is such a good mate and for this to happen in the build-up to the biggest tournament made me feel sick in my stomach.”

Lampard described the incident when Ferdinand fell as “a freak”. But he admitted he was immediately concerned about the impact it would have.

“I was fearful for him because you could see the pain of the fall but also there was an element of fear,” he said.

“We all understand that. We’ve all had moments during our club careers as well where there’s big games coming up and you feel you might have done something to put you out of that game.

“I understood straight away that it was potentially a bad one and then it was fingers crossed for the scan and obviously it turned out to be bad.”

USA coach Bob Bradley was taking no satisfaction from Ferdinand’s withdrawal, despite it giving his side something of a tonic ahead of their fixture next Saturday.

“Whenever you get close to a World Cup and see players pick up late injuries and miss out, then I think all players, all coaches, everyone in the game, feels bad when that happens,” said Bradley.

When a player like Rio Ferdinand goes down injured, when there is a question mark against Didier Drogba etc, these are things you don’t want to see.”

Meanwhile, Gareth Barry was able to train on his own on Saturday as Capello gives the Manchester City man every opportunity to prove himself fit following an ankle injury.

Capello hopes the 29-year-old will be able to train properly immediately after the United States encounter and be available for the second game against Algeria in Cape Town on June 18.

Bet on the World Cup and get £200. Click here to visit Bet365 and claim your free money.

Lampard leaves nothing to chance

Posted on by
Reply

Frank Lampard has insisted there will be no Premier League title celebrations from Chelsea until they have secured a first domestic crown since 2006 (1/12 Chelsea – Premier League outright).

A one-sided 2-0 victory over Liverpool at Anfield on Sunday has put the west Londoners within one win of seeing off the challenge of defending champions and nearest challengers Manchester United.

Sir Alex Ferguson’s side beat Sunderland 1-0 later on Sunday but must now beat Stoke at Old Trafford next weekend and hope Carlo Ancelotti’s men stumble against Wigan at Stamford Bridge.

Lampard, on target against Liverpool, highlighted the fact that the lead had changed hands so many times this season when insisting the Chelsea players would take nothing for granted.

“It would be nice to do it in front of our own fans,” said the England midfielder.

He added: “Obviously Manchester United have a tough game but we’ll never go that far (thinking they have already won). We have a big game next week.”

Chelsea appeared to have lost momentum in December last year when they won just two out of six Premier League games.

However, they can end the season by winning the double if they also beat Portsmouth in the FA Cup final on May 15 (1/4 Chelsea 4/1 draw 8/1 Portsmouth – match betting).

Lampard said the players had drawn inspiration from their desire to overhaul United and revealed they are determined to finish the season with a flourish.

“We’ve got an FA Cup final after next week so we’re very determined,” he added.

“We were at a bit of a low point a couple of months ago so credit goes to the players, management and staff.

“We dug ourselves out of that and have pushed on to the brink of doing the double.”

Carlo Ancelotti felt Chelsea gained the upper-hand by beating Liverpool but revealed he would not alter his preparations for next Sunday’s showdown with Roberto Martinez’s men.

“It was the key game I think for the fight for the title and we played very well,” said the Italian.

The former AC Milan boss added: “The team is fit, mentally very good and we have to have confidence for the next game. We have to stay calm, train well like we did the last week and prepare well. Nothing special.”

ToteSport bookmaker will give you £60 in Free Bets. Click here to check them out.

Lampard backs Drogba

Posted on by
Reply

Chelsea’s midfield star Frank Lampard believes Didier Drogba will finish the season as the Premier League’s top goalscorer (Drogba 10/11 to be the FA Premier League Top Goalscorer 2009/2010).

The Ivory Coast striker has been in fine form throughout the campaign despite departing for African Cup of Nations duty in January and a number of injury concerns.

Despite missing a number of games for Chelsea this season the 32-year-old has managed to bag 25 Premier League goals this campaign.

The current Premier League top scorer is Manchester United’s Wayne Rooney (Rooney 11/10 be the FA Premier League Top Goalscorer 2009/2010) but the England international looks set to miss the rest of the season with a groin strain, allowing Drogba the opportunity to pip him at the post.

Rooney has scored just one more goal than Drogba, which means if the Stamford Bridge star can find the net twice more in Chelsea’s remaining league fixtures he will end the season as the league’s top scorer.

Lampard is confident his team-mate will manage to overtake Rooney and end the season as the most prolific striker in the Premier League.

He said: “The way Didier played against Stoke is what he’s about, people talk about Rooney being missing and he is the player of the year but we have also lost players for large parts of the season. It all evens itself out.

“Didier wants to be the top scorer in the league, he deserves to be. Let’s hope in the next two games he will score the goals to make him that.”

Chelsea travel to Anfield on Sunday where they will face Liverpool, before their final league fixture of the season where they take on Wigan Athletic at Stamford Bridge.

If the Blues pick up maximum points they will secure the Premier League title (Chelsea 1/2 to secure the Premier League title) as they currently enjoy a one point advantage over second placed Manchester United, with both teams having played the same number of games.

However, it will not be a straightforward task for Carlo Ancelotti’s side, Wigan may have successfully avoided relegation but Liverpool are still in the hunt for fourth spot (Liverpool 14/1 to finish fourth in the FA Premiership Top Four Finish market) and will be a stern test on their home ground.

If Chelsea are to secure their first Premier League title in four years they will need Drogba to be on top form, and with Rooney unlikely to play again this season the Ivorian could well secure the top goalscorer award while helping his side clinch English football’s top prize.

ToteSport bookmaker will give you £60 in Free Bets. Click here to check them out.