Player of the year! Thats my prediction This is the Frank Lampard appreciation thread. But what do we do if he's injured/unavailable? I think he's the only player that we cannot replace from our squad. Even IF Terry is out we have Carvhallo and Gallas, but IF we lose Frankie we'd have to change the shape of the teaam really. What do you lot think?
I was thinking the exact same thing. Joe Cole might be able to fill the role, as a similiar player in Deco fulfills a similiar role in Barc's 4-3-3 and they seem the be doing fine. However, Joe Cole's certainly no Deco.
We have the team to let us play in different ways. We can also go with a more traditional 4-4-2; Eidur and Drogba up front, Cole behind them in the hole, Smertin/Tiago/Geremi on the right of the diamond, Duff/Robben on the left, and Makelele as the holding mid.
To give Makelele a rest, sure. Come on Monkee, you know as well as I do that he was pretty poor playing wide right last year. He looked completely overmatched, especially in Europe, where the introduction of Gronkjaer in his place increased our effectiveness considerably.
Lamp is irreplaceble and there is a significant noticible difference in play when he rests, but I think most of our midfielders could step in and hold the shape as none are really required to play wide in the mid 3. Tiago and Parker have both been playing well of late and could do allright in a Lamp rest match with Smertin and Mak watching the rear. Cole if he amps up his focus on defense position could step in as well. If he ever rests, DO NOT want to hear any other reason for him not playing other than healthy rest, in a big match I would like to see Eidur play in that role with Drogba and the magic duo in the front 3. Also I could see Duff drop into the role and getting right width from Geremi, Kez or Johnson.
Errrr......huh? How do you get that? Tiago's long range passing (or short range passing) isn't nearly good enough to play in Lampard's role.
Lampard is irreplacable, but not just b/c he passes well and shoots well. He is irreplacable b/c he is the inspirational leader for Chelsea. Although Terry is the captain, Frankie, i think, inspires his teammates and that's why we can't afford to lose him.
tiago isnt as one dimensional as joe cole(no defense) or scott parker(not very creative or gifted offensively) or smertin. i didnt mean tiago is as good as lampard, but he tackles well, is fairly creative, a decent passer, and contributes on both ends, hes certainly not a holding mid like a lot of people think, and hes playing out of position. From what I have seen and what i heard from his portugal league days, hes a true CM like lampard.
Lampard is just class through and through. I'm hoping Chelsea can snag Gerrard in January. Lampard and Gerrard would be unstoppable.
I know this is what everyone wants but doesn't Gerrard basically play the same role as Lamps? I haven't seen him play much, but Parker was pants against Fulham yesterday. The only thing he did well was making the back pass to Terry and Carvalho. Has zero creativity going forward; definitely not a substitute for Lamps. Tiago is more of a threat going forward, though nowhere near the influence of Lamps.
Parker's clearly seen as the sub for Makelele. And Gerrard plays similarly to Lampard, but we have two midfielders who play similar roles. Gerrard slots in perfectly into Smertin/Tiago/Geremi's spot.
you've been repped for having a clever name i just ordered a bunch of swag from the ChelseaMegastore, including a "mexico" shirt (just an ivory coloured t-shirt) with Lamps name & squad number on the back... (they were out of robbens...teehee).
they are both very complete Central midfielders, with gerrard a little better defensively(could be a true Dm if he wanted or an Am if he wanted), lampard a more prolific goal scorer. They play as a pairing for england, and play very well. i could definitely see -------------makelele --------gerrard-------lampard ---duff-------------------------robben ---------------guddy/drogba if we get him, ill be extremely happy, if not, i already am ecstatic about our squad. and i agree about your tiago assesment.
Parker is not a class A player !! i hope that they will sell him as soon as possible !! gerrard will stay at Liverpool !! i dont think that he want to come here !! he is a class A player but we dont need him in our squad
I confess to being highly sceptical about Tiago when he joined the club, and his early appearances (bar the Palace goal) reinforced that scepticism. Since then, I've changed my view. He's showing himself to be tough in the tackle, his passing is getting better and better (he doesn't have Lampard's range, but few players in Europe do) and his reading of the game is good. And we know he can score: a couple already and I know he had 12 from midfield for Benfica last season. A direct replacement for Lamps, he isn't. But he's a reasonable approximation thereof. As for Gerrard, I think the proposed 2-man attacking midfield with Makelele sat behind them is exactly the formation we should be looking at, should he come to SW6. I firmly believe that Gerrard will end his career as a defensive midfielder, but at the moment (injury permitting) he's a box-to-box player in (dare I say it) the Nedved mould. I'd love to have him: I think he's the most naturally gifted English player there is bar Rooney. He'll cost a fortune, though.
As someone who's opinion of Parker is well known round these parts, I'd probably agree. Erm, and who do you plan to play in Makelele's position if he's injured or needs a rest? Hopefully not. He almost came here, remember? Just a few months ago. We don't need him, but I'd gladly take him. If we are in the market for another RM, and we likely are if he's that good, Gerrard and then Juninho Pernambucano are my top 2 choices. (Lyon's best player, plays on the right in a diamond formation for Brazil, for whom he has been first choice for quite some time; also excellent at set pieces.) Of course, I'd also like someone like SWP, because I'm starting to realize that for a team dedicated to a 4-3-3, its a bit odd having only two wide players, both of whom prefer to use their left foot.
And here I disagree. Lampard's importance to us is that link between offense and defense. His ability to play the ball forward and deep with accuracy is really, really important. Tiago does not have the ability to do that, from what we've seen. Nearly all of his passes are square balls to Lampard or Robben/Duff. With a midfield of Tiago/Makelele/Smertin we'd have a hard time stringing passes together. We'd have two players who could make good runs, but no one to supply them the ball. Well, I don't agree with the Nedved comparison. Nedved started his career as a winger, and is now the typical "hole" player for Juve. His range of passing and shooting is superior to Gerrard's, althoug he's certainly not as good in terms of retrieving the ball if he loses it. Gerrard is a clone of what Keane was 5 years ago; a tough midfield player who's also good going forward. Keane hasn't been the same since injuries and age took their toll, but in his prime his offensive game was vastly superior to, say, Vieira's today.
I agree, Lampard is irreplaceable. If he goes down, we will start to lose a few games. But Robben is in at # 2. If he goes out, we're back to 1-0 wins instead of this avalanche of goals we've seen since he got in the lineup. John Terry's presence on the field cannot be underestimated, either.
Parker is a good player if you look back to naer to the end of last season hes playin a lot more then an was doin really well, like when playin arsenal vieara cod do very little in the games because parker was there. Gerrard will come to chelsea if there are no death threats this time (im not joking), and if we play this five in mid basicaly with 1 up, he would be perfect and it would be great for england as well. i think we shod buy this adriano guy coz he seems to be a really good player and will be the replacment for Ronaldo, buyin right-phillips is a great idea
not that im in favor of selling parker, but if makelele goes down i can see smertin taking over that position, short term anyways.