in praise of frank lampard

for some reason, frank lampard isn't very popular.

sure, chelsea fans like him, he's scored lots and lots of goals for them over the years. but that doesn't really count, even someone with no interest in the game knows fans are invariably biased. so, any other fans with even the remotest bit of sympathy for him? anyone at all? look at his high-profile premiership peers and you realise that he's pretty lonely - steven gerrard gets lots of respect from other fans, including those of the national team, fabregas is widely lauded, michael carrick is turning into one of those "underrated" players everyone seems to rate, gareth barry is generally well-thought of, mascherano gets a grudging appreciation due to his childishness, everyone drools over xabi alonso's passing, tim cahill is the sort of player every fan wants on his team... even on his own team, neutrals seem to like michael essien quite a lot. but frank, frank seems to be bracketed in with john terry - and possibly ashley cole - as a select group of chelsea players seen as overrated by the media and generally annoying.

in part, its the chelsea effect. no one likes chelsea. they bought success, their fans were never particularly liked and have since seen their ranks flooded with a variety of people that, let's be honest, wouldn't have been fans if not for the abramovich millions. john terry suffers from that horribly dull media treatment he receives - let us call it the andy townsend effect - with endless repetition of that "he's a leader, a soldier, he's so brave" meme. ashley cole? well, ashley cole is a scumbag who is married to the "world's sexiest woman" (thanks FHM!). frank... well, frank is a bit annoying: he kisses the badge a bit, he's probably scored the winner against your team, he's won lots, isn't afraid to indulge in some post-match clichés, was loved by jose mourinho, and plays badly for england.

that last one is quite important. the upshot of the terrible sven years - underperformance in major tournaments, blamed principally on that failed lampard/gerrard axis - was that frank's reputation was in tatters. with a game less flashy than steven gerrard's, goals yes, but none of those electrifying bursts that characterise the liverpool captain's game, he was written off by fans. a system player they said. all mourinho. just scores deflected goals. only scores because he takes so many shots. nothing without makelele. or drogba. passes sideways. no skill. can't tackle.

in many ways, he suffers because of two things - one, he scores goals, lots of them, and two, he's a genuinely good all round player. the goals mean that people who don't really watch the game default to that position of "he just shoots a lot and scores the odd goal", and the fact he's more measured in his approach, not really outstanding in any single way - apart from scoring - means he becomes a soft target for those looking to analyse the game in superlatives only. the moments of unparalleled genius are rare, which means he suffers in comparison to those with the trademark moments of transcendent ability, the volleyed last minute cup final winner, the 35 yarder as a 17 year old, the countless youtube clips of you spinning and swivelling past bemused defenders. for frank lampard, those don't really exist. that culture, the one of the forwarded video clip of the 13 year old prodigy, the 10 second nuggets, doesn't suit frank lampard.

but frank lampard is a great player.

first, rather than denigrating it, let's celebrate that scoring record. he's scored more than 10 premier league goals for 6 straight seasons now, which is absolutely remarkable. as a comparison, paul scholes - a genuinely well regarded scoring midfielder in his prime - has done it once. steven gerrard three times. ryan giggs twice. in his seven premier league seasons, gianfranco zola did it twice. dennis bergkamp did it four times. away from the premier league, zinedine zidane did it twice, ten years apart. the purpose of these comparisons is not to put forward lampard as the equal as any of those players - although he certainly might be - but simply to put it into its proper context. what frank lampard has done is genuinely amazing.

it is, of course, in part to his rather underappreciated durability & stamina. in his first six seasons at chelsea, he missed just six premier league games, playing the full 38 three years in a row; since breaking into the west ham first team in 97-98, he has had only one season in which he has played less than 30 games (the injury riddled 07-08 campaign), and at one point established a new premier league record of 164 consecutive games played, overtaking david james. for a modern footballer, this is surely equal to his scoring record - midfield players don't do that, certainly not those that cover the sheer amount of turf as he does. for the record, steven gerrard has never appeared in 38 premier league games in a single season.

this isn't to suggest that durability is proof of greatness. but durability is undoubtedly a virtue, in the same way that other preternatural physical abilities possessed by sportspeople are - that ability to change direction in the blink of an eye whilst still keeping balance is treated as a true gift, whilst other physical capabilities are ignored. not interesting, i know. but when you're going for the league and cup double in the spring and your star midfielder doesn't need a rest, that benefit cannot be understated. and for chelsea this year, still going in three tournaments, frank lampard has been virtually ever present whilst all those around him have been rotated in and out, whilst also playing for the national side.

alright, you say, i'll give you the scoring and the durability. those are pretty impressive. but what about the rest of his play? still a product of the freedom granted to him by excellent defensive midfielders, of that system?

well, not quite. people are quick to forget that during the 2003/2004 season, lampard was outstanding: the midfielder scored 10 goals whilst dictating the chelsea play from midfield, driving the team forward. whilst ranieri had dipped into the ambramovich millions during the summer of 2003 to purchase claude makelele, he was often ineffective in the italian's system and lampard was their pre-eminent player. often, amidst the adulation heaped upon paul scholes, it is said that the biggest tragedy was seeing him played out of position to accomodate others; a disgrace, it is said. but this analysis forgets that by 2003/2004, lampard had become such a good player that he fully deserved to be displacing scholes in the england line-up.

by the start of the mourinho era lampard had developed into quite a player - his physical strength and stamina allied to an extreme diligence in both training and positioning, his passing moulded not quite to the metronomic quality of classic playmakers, but to a direct, perceptive style, perfectly crafted for a high-tempo team that thrived on the counter-attack. the powerful, measured flavour of his play, the adept and instinctive off-the-ball movement, made him ideal for the system instituted by the portuguese, and his play reached new heights. in 2005 he was the runner up for both the fifa world player of the year and the balon d'or, losing both to the garish talent of ronaldinho.

forgotten are the quality and consistency of his performances - the outrageously dominant game against barcelona at the nou camp during the champions league group stages in 2006/2007 - and dismiss (as with many english players) the technical prowess - witness that chipped goal against hull earlier this year.

the remarkable thing is that those powers haven't waned. lampard is now in his thirties, but possesses the same workrate and drive as ever, has scored another 12 premier league goals and continues to be chelsea's creator in midfield, racking up 9 assists (joint second in the league). just yesterday his current manager guus hiddink laughed off reports that he might be rested against west ham, saying

“Frank is one of those players who loves to play every day. When you see him after the Everton game the other day — normally a low-intensity session — he was doing his accelerations out on the pitch. He’s so strong."

of course, lampard started whilst essien, ballack and drogba were all rested; for all of the talk that michael essien has reinvigorated this chelsea team, without frank lampard they would be nowhere. the goalie has wobbled and the defence frequently underperforming, involving equal parts injury and incompetence. the midfield has been narrow and stale, with michael ballack depreciating horribly, deco losing his bearings and the small problem of no wide players. up front, they've made do with a mediocre one-trick pony for most of the season. no bench. one man makes that side tick, yet after multiple league titles & trophies, few would receive such little recognition for it.

chelsea's player of the season, possibly the best in the premier league as well. not even on the shortlist for the PFA player of the year.

obviously.