A Frank Exchange of Views

Everyone, it seems, is talking about Frank Lampard and you cannot escape the conclusion that lately much of it has been critical. This has put Frank himself on the defensive and prompted a number of his friends to rush in with their support.

As far as Frank is concerned, he shouldn’t be hammered just because he isn’t hitting the back of the net as much as he used to and many of his pals have reminded us that he was, after all, voted the second best player in the world in a FIFA poll.

Let’s take these one at a time. First, contrary to appearances most people’s criticism does not focus exclusively on the downturn in scoring, even when the most topical example is a missed penalty. Frank Lampard is widely acknowledged as a thoroughly nice lad, a model professional and a good Premiership midfield player, who through no fault of his own has been elevated by a combination of over-enthusiasm and misguided publicity to a point which is way above his station. He is not world class because he lacks pace, plays the ball sideways and backwards too much and is often too inaccurate when he does pass forward. He is, in short, a plodder of the very highest quality – and those who point to the FIFA ratings should take a good hard look at the tables they are so eager to quote, because many of the players who are allegedly inferior to Frank are so much better than he is, it’s embarrassing.