World Cup qual. - Lampard admits poor form

Eurosport - Wed, 08 Oct 10:11:00 2008

Frank Lampard has admitted that he and Steven Gerrard have failed to reproduce their club form when playing for England, particularly when they are in the same team.

FOOTBALL England Steven Gerrard Frank Lampard - 0

The inability of the two world-class midfielders to gel when playing for their country has long been a source of frustration for the fans and a succession of managers.

"If we are both honest - and Stevie is a very honest man - we both haven't played as well for England as we have for our clubs particularly over the last two seasons," Lampard said ahead of Saturday's World Cup qualifier against Kazakhstan at Wembley.

"I think if we had done we probably would have qualified for the Euros.

"That's the case whether we've played together or separately. We have to try and make it work if we're asked to play together and we have to stop worrying about individual players.

"What we need to do now is to look at the team."

Gerrard missed last month's 4-1 victory in Croatia through injury, and Lampard played well in a deeper role than usual.

The Liverpool man recently complained he hardly ever played in an attacking midfield role for England, and now he is available again coach Fabio Capello has some decisions to make.

"I think it's pretty obvious when you play with Theo Walcott, Joe Cole and two strikers and you go to a place like Croatia where they can knock the ball about, if you leave Gareth Barry on his own in midfield you are going to get exposed," Lampard added.

"Maybe we're in a better environment for it to improve now. There is a lot more emphasis on the tactical work now. In the past we probably did just discuss it in the dressing room and say if one sees the other go, he stays back.

"In a lot of games now the midfield is overloaded and you can't just leave one player on his own. But there's no better environment to learn than with Capello and the way we are working now.

"I'd like to think it can work. We both care passionately about playing for our country and we both want to play well for our country."

Reuters

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  1. Lampard and Gerrard love to grab the long shoot.So,they­ can't played together for many reason.they have­ same ability and we can see that they love to hold­ their position outside the box.If they have two of them­ so u can think what happend then..

    From mean_maroon, on Fri 10 Oct 5:28AM

  2. they need to play as a team..they cant play together if­ they want to prove their own ability..trust each­ other..why not england try play 3-1-4-1...both of them­ be a attacking midfield with single striker..

    From zir, on Thu 9 Oct 4:48AM

  3. Well said John G. The England team is full of­ charachters but a also few blatant question marks. ­ Lampard has failed to prove his worth in a Three Lions­ short in the middle fo the pitch.Given his failure to­ make his mark, I think its about time Stevie G was­ moved back into the middle and not shunted to the left.­ Terry as captain is questionable. Would have prefered­ Stevie G in McLaren's days or Rio now.

    From Dicehk, on Thu 9 Oct 1:47AM

  4. i ahve to say if england would play "pretty­ football" and had a decent coach and worked well­ together they would be on of the best in the world,­ just look at the teams player performances for their­ clubs. rooney=arguably the best forward in the world.­ joe cole walcott and swp some of the best wingers in­ the epl and joe cole is in a class of his own. then­ defoe has finally started playing well and hima nd­ crouch are on of the best pairs in the epl. terry and­ ferdinad are arguably the two best centre backs in the­ world. gerrard and lampard two of the best centre­ midfielders in the world. scholes decent.­ hargreaves=good ashley cole and wes brown are both very­ solid particularly ashley at the moment.

    From ffffffffffff, on Thu 9 Oct 1:14AM

  5. As a forigner whos national team have won the world cup­ several times it tickles me to see how unpatriotic the­ England supporters are. You spend so much time­ bickerng about your two finest players Lampard and­ Gerrard. If you got behind your national team instead­ of getting lost in your petty minded club battles then­ these two great player may learn to play well together­ and would make your national team awesom. As far as I­ am concerened keep the bickering up and the fans­ devided and the rest of the international countries­ will prosper at your expense. Thank God for Liverpool­ Arsenal Man ut and Chelsea they keep you national side­ divided because their fans are unable to truly support­ the national team as long as players from these sides­ are in the National side. Other nations see England­ fans for what they are a biggeted bunch of divided­ morons.

    From Sadoldgit, on Wed 8 Oct 8:33PM

  6. LAMPARD AND GERRARD ARE SAME LEVEL PLAYER BUT IT TRUE­ THEIR PERFORMANCE ARE POOR LAST 2 YEAR FOR ENGLAND

    From andrew, on Wed 8 Oct 7:55PM

  7. totally agree john g

    From Suzy, on Wed 8 Oct 7:38PM

  8. Any one who knows anything about football knows the­ reason that Steven Gerrard doesn't have the­ influence for England as he does for LFC because he­ isn't the captain and he is never allowed to play­ the way he does for LFC so England rarely get the best­ of Gerrard he is always stiffled and stuck out wide­ while the stuttering Lampard is given the free role­ which he never gets to grips with, its time Gerrard was­ given the free role and then everyone will see the­ difference in the England performance.

    From john g, on Wed 8 Oct 7:25PM

  9. Glad lamps admitted he is in poor form, but he shouldnt­ rope stevie into it.

    SCOTT S- u say lpool fans r­ so 1 minded bout Gerrard, but u r such a HYPOCRITE as­ ur comments r so 1 minded bout Chavski and rubbish­ Lamps. u r only jealous that Gerrard was in the running­ for captain but ur precious boyfriend lamps wasnt. so y­ dnt u just run along back to the world of Chavs!! i­ bet u didnt even like Chavski til they started winning­ things!!

    From Suzy, on Wed 8 Oct 6:40PM

  10. oooooohh

    From yip, on Wed 8 Oct 4:55PM

  11. Scott S. You should learn some manners and stay out of­ chat rooms, you foul mouthed trog !

    From stevebrad57, on Wed 8 Oct 4:45PM

  12. if only Frank was an honest man

    From James, on Wed 8 Oct 4:44PM

  13. I think that both players should be sidelined for a few­ games, they do not perform as well for England as they­ seem to do for thier clubs. But they are not the only­ one's that need to take a good long look at­ personal performances, the list could go on and on. It­ really winds me up when you think that there is more­ than one league in this country with a whole lot of­ talented players, Its time that the powers that be­ started looking at what they have got instead of­ relying on overpaid overpriced attitudial players from­ the premiership

    From robant1959, on Wed 8 Oct 4:44PM

  14. ifingaz. what are you talking about? World class­ players perform at the world cup. that has to be the­ most stupid thing I have ever read in my life. I dont­ actually believe you can think that. unless your 8­ years old.

    and Gerrard was @#$% at the world cup. Joe­ Cole was Englands only good player.

    Theo Walcott has­ not stepped up!

    you are actually wrong with almost­ everything you said. Impressive

    From yip, on Wed 8 Oct 4:39PM

  15. World beaters again???? Brazil are world beaters my­ son!!!

    From willsgearoid, on Wed 8 Oct 4:38PM

  16. I care not which club the England players come from, As­ soon as they put on an England shirt they are there for­ England! So any fan who is a true England supporter­ should drop the small minded club predjudices and­ support the national team. Terry Lampard Gerrard Rooney­ Cole Ferdinand and the rest should all be allowed to­ wear the shirt with pride and suffer no barraking from­ inter club fans who care nothing about England but are­ on an ego trip to see there club players wear the­ shirt. Come on boys wear the shirt with pride do your­ best and hopefully the true fans will support you as a­ team not as individuals representing there clubs.

    From Sadoldgit, on Wed 8 Oct 4:34PM

  17. Lampard has improved so much this season he looks the­ player he did under mourinho's 1st season at­ chelsea.

    so sick of people sayin gerrard is better n­ lampard ain a player just cause they dont like chelsea.­ he was voted 2nd best player in europe 1 season,­ gerrard wasnt. he now looks that good again. 4 seasons­ ago chelsea looked unbeatable and he was the main­ player.

    Was it not his goals that got you to the world­ cup befor last?

    Liverppol fans are so 1 minded for­ Gerrard. You think he should be captain even though he­ is a diving, moaning, thick idiot.

    From yip, on Wed 8 Oct 4:32PM

  18. speak for your self lampard. and not others around you

    From mike413, on Wed 8 Oct 4:28PM

  19. alankelso08- u say that Gerrard doesnt do wat he does­ as the captain of Liverpool and take charge. well he­ does not do that for England as it just might be­ because GERRARD IS NOT THE ENGLAND CAPTAIN AND SO­ CANNOT TAKE CHARGE OF MOTIVATING ENGLAND! that is the­ job of John Terry who hasnt quite mastered that yet as­ he goes all stroppy if we start losing instead of­ motivating the team! Lampard should be dropped as a­ Gerrard and Barry partnership along with Becks and Joe­ Cole would really start to get us to the level of­ quality that our players suggest we should be at. Drop­ Lamps and keep Gerrard!!

    From Suzy, on Wed 8 Oct 4:13PM

  20. ENGLAND SHOULD JUST DROP LAMPARD FOR GOOD! STVIE G IS A­ MILLION TIMES BETTER THAN LAMPARD THATS A FACT :D

    From clare.rothellowen, on Wed 8 Oct 3:33PM
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