Part 1: Player Profile – Frank Lampard
The English player Frank Lampard was simply brilliant during his run for his club, Chelsea in the season 2009-2010. He played a massive part for Chelsea’s triumphs in the English Premier League and the FA Cup.
Even though he is too old and is playing his ninth season for Chelsea, Frank Lampard is still a key player and an influential figure for the blues. He undoubtedly enjoyed his best individual season last year by helping the club win a double for the first time and was able to put his name in the books.
The Englishman was simply not replaceable as the Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti was just confused when it came down to replacing a dynamic midfielder like him. He was able to play 36 out of 38 league matches. In all competitions, he made 51 appearances and was one of the players who appeared the most for the blues.
Last season, he was able to score 27 goals and along with the goals he made 20 assists and was definitely a threat to Chelsea’s opponents. In 51 appearances, keeping such a record being a midfielder is simply outstanding. There is a reason why the 32-year-old is still considered to be the “best choice” for the English midfield and the reason is simply the fact that he can easily score goals and also play great through balls to help assist his forwards.
Many strikers in the world are not able to get a sum of 27 when it comes down to scoring goals but in the last season, it was all Frank Lampard as he managed to out run all such attackers. Such a midfielder is definitely is simply hard to find; a player who can not only pass the ball, but he can also score goals.
After Ancelotti’s arrival at the English club, the Italian manager deployed his diamond formation to help the team win matches. The former West Ham United player, Lampard was still confused about his position and was not sure where to play in such a formation.
With Lampard unsure where to play, he still managed to impress by playing at the point of the diamond formation. He managed to score goals against Manchester United in the Community Shield and then managed to score another against the English club Sunderland, which was actually the second league game of the season. However, his next club goal did not really occur till late October but when it came, the player exploded with joy as it was very crucial. The goal he scored was against the Spanish club Atletico Madrid and it was during Chelsea’s run in the Champions League.
It was for the first time that Lampard did not manage to score a goal for 10 days straight but when he did, the relief on his face was crystal clear as he finally managed to end the drought.
During this time, Lampard was playing on the left of the diamond formation that Ancelotti deployed after his move to the English club, Chelsea. Soon, things had to change as few Chelsea players travelled to Africa to play for their countries during the Africa Cup of Nations. This was the time when Chelsea had to change their formation and this was the time when Lampard showed his real worth for the English club.
With so many players moving out of the club, Ancelotti had to come back to the old Chelsea formation of 4-3-3. Many players were familiar to this one and Lampard was the midfielder who was utilized as the “attacking” player. He managed to score a brace against Sunderland while his team was busy destroying the team 7-2. Later, he managed to score two more goals against Birmingham City, and that happened in the following week.
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