FA PREMIER LEAGUE: Amy Lawrenceon how the England midfielder has been the one player Chelsea can rely upon during what has proved a difficult season to date
WHEN FRANK LAMPARD popped the cork on Chelsea’s pent-up pressure with a last-minute screamer against Stoke City earlier this month, nobody noticed that the team celebration engulfed the wrong man. They were wonderfully considerate to pick out Luiz Felipe Scolari as the focus of their joy, but if one person deserves the credit, and the unreserved gratitude of his club-mates, for guiding Chelsea through troublesome times it is Lampard.
It may have something to do with the fact his midfield colleagues, in the absence of the dynamic Michael Essien, have toiled more this season than ever before in the Roman Abramovich era, but Lampard has never felt so important to Chelsea as he does now. His contribution stands out so emphatically that the detractors who not so long ago booed him in the England shirt may have to have second thoughts.
For some time there has been a marked distinction between perceptions of Lampard by the club’s fans, who idolise him, and by virtually everybody else. He must occasionally wonder why he struggles for popularity outside Stamford Bridge when there is so much to admire about his game. It certainly does not help that he has perfected the England scowl that seems to be part of an initiation ceremony for representatives of the national team. Why grin on the pitch when you can grimace?
Lampard gave some insight into that when he made his acceptance speech after being named footballer of the year by the Football Writers’ Association in 2005. Recalling the criticism he endured from the terraces as a youngster at West Ham United, he said: “I would love all those people to be in the room tonight so I could answer them.” When the world is only too happy to berate you, showing it you do not care is an understandable defence mechanism.
Chelsea have had their reasons for dark looks this season, but Lampard is doing a good job in trying to lift the side. Even he had a dip in productivity, enduring a dry spell in front of goal for the best part of two months before Christmas, but through typical endeavour his game has returned. Scanning the Chelsea midfield, Mikel John Obi is steady enough, but Michael Ballack and Florent Malouda capture the imagination too rarely – and saying that would be a compliment to Deco, whose displays since his transfer from Barcelona must privately drive Scolari up the wall.
Little wonder Scolari speaks highly of Lampard, describing him as he celebrated his 400th game for Chelsea as a “fantastic man” and the player he would choose as the best in the world if he still had the vote international managers are granted by Fifa for their annual award.
Lampard is the sole representative of the fearsome team that Jose Mourinho built to enhance his reputation this season. Petr Cech does not seem quite so invincible, John Terry is in the side less frequently and less ferociously, Claude Makelele has gone, and Didier Drogba’s permanent pout has detracted somewhat from the terror he once inflicted upon defenders.
A comfortable wearer of the armband as Terry’s deputy, Lampard has begun to assume the kind of iconic, driving-force role that Steven Gerrard has for years occupied at Liverpool. Dealing with that kind of sustained responsibility, while the team is under intense pressure to maintain a title challenge, is very wearing. Little wonder Gerrard, who has been pulling the weight of his team along for most of his career, looks dog-tired.
Both of Manchester United’s main rivals for the title are very reliant on key individuals for desire and inspiration. It is not easy to pick United’s best player at the moment, which explains why they are ahead of the game. The same principle applies to the other in-form team at the top, Aston Villa.
Fabio Capello will naturally be an interested observer at Anfield tomorrow. Checking on David Beckham’s renaissance at San Siro on Wednesday was the easy part of the England coach’s midfield scouting duties. Although the World Cup campaign has been virtually flawless, he has still not established an entirely convincing solution to the great Lampard-Gerrard conundrum. Capello is yet to show his true hand, but could be forced to if England continue to progress under his tutelage.
Should his team reach the usual brick wall of a tournament quarter-final, he will either have already cracked it in terms of getting both Lampard and Gerrard to sparkle simultaneously, or he will make the choice for the benefit of the team balance required to succeed at the highest level.
It is one of the unsolved mysteries of the 21st century. Mankind has invented cars that run on vegetable oil and phones that identify your whereabouts in the world, but still struggles to find a way to make England’s – and Chelsea’s and Liverpool’s – best midfielders reproduce their top form for their country.
GuardianService
