England manager Fabio Capello urges Chelsea midfielder Frank Lampard to improve
England national team manager http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Frank-Lampard-c14097, along with the rest of the team, had no guarantee of a place in the squad. The Italian manager is determined to select only the players who are at the top of their
form and is said to be the reason why the 33-year-old midfielder was dropped from the team ahead of the clash against Wales.
Lampard, who is otherwise a regular in the England squad, will be missing out for the first time in four years from a competitive match. Since making his debut for the England senior squad in 1999, Lampard has made 87 appearances and has scored 22 goals.
However, that does not seem to be enough for Capello, who has named Lampard among the substitutes for the game at Wembley.
Some would say Capello is taking a risk by not starting with the experienced http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Arsenal-c38429
youngster is sidelined with a minor injury. Despite the unavailability of two key midfielders, Capello failed to guarantee Lampard a place in the starting XI in the future.
Capello said while speaking to reporters:
“I don't know. He is one of the best English midfielders but, as a manager, I need to choose the players, not the name.
I need to wait because he's got two training sessions before Tuesday's match against Wales and I don't know what will happen.”
Capello admitted Lampard was one of the top midfielders in http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/England-c749, but revealed his recent performances had not been very convincing. It was for this reason that the Italian was willing to observe his progress during training and then decide how big a role
the former West Ham United man would play against http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Wales-c3041. Capello said he would wait for Lampard to regain his form, but until then he would be utilizing his other options.
The Italian manager said:
“At this moment, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Gareth-Barry-c14423 is in really good form and, at the start of the season, Lampard needed to play more games.
The first two games that Lampard played this season were not good but the last one was better.”
Despite an impressive pre-season with the Blues, Lampard has not quite managed to impress in the English Premier League. His performances against Stoke City and West Bromwich Albion were barely up to the standard and have earned him much criticism. However,
he did show improvement against Norwich City and Capello confirmed that Lampard was still a part of the squad and had to show only a little improvement to regain his place in the squad.
He continued:
“Frank is part of this squad. He is a professional and, when he came on, he was really focused and did well.”
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