Chelsea careerLeague title
winning-goals, FA Cup and Champions League Final strikes, nerveless
penalty taking, assists galore and record-breaking sequences of
appearances,
Frank Lampard
has been both the man for the big occasion, and for the week-in,
week-out dedication that is the bedrock of genuine achievement. He is
without doubt one of the finest players ever to wear the Chelsea blue.
After a quiet start at the Bridge, with just 15 goals in two years
following an £11 million transfer from West Ham, Frank bloomed into one
of Europe's finest.
An early sign of what was to come was his commanding display against
Arsenal's Patrick Vieira in an FA Cup Final defeat at the end of his
first season, progress that was continued the following campaign.
In 2003/04, the first season under
Roman Abramovich's
ownership and Frank's third at the club, he retained his place despite
many new arrivals and his phenomenal form was only beaten by Thierry
Henry when English football's individual awards were handed out.
The top performances continued to come in 2004/05, as did the goals,
Frank's powerful shooting firing Chelsea to the Premiership title that
season as he top-scored from midfield with 13 in the League and 19
overall. There was no one more appropriate to score the two magical
goals at Bolton that sealed the championship triumph.
The Sportswriters' Footballer of the Year that year and runner-up in
the European and World Player of the Year voting for 2005, Frank
continued to prove as close to indispensable as can be found in modern
football as his team duplicated the Premiership success in 2005/06.
When in December 2005, he finally missed a game due to a virus
infection, it brought to an end a new Premier League record of 164
consecutive appearances, since surpassed by goalkeeper Brad Friedel.
In 2006/07, his 62 games was the highest total by any Chelsea player
in a single campaign and although the next year was affected by two rare
injuries and bereavement, Frank continued to drive Chelsea on from
midfield game after game after game and made it to the now regular
20-goal mark.
The injuries were unfortunate but genuine tragedy struck in April
2008 with the death of Frank's mother. His courage and nerve in scoring a
vital Champions League semi-final penalty against Liverpool on his
return from compassionate leave, followed by his dramatic equaliser in
the Final, were among that season's strongest images.
Since then Lamps has become Chelsea's top scoring midfield player
ever; and is the player to win the most international caps while a
Chelsea player.
A five-year deal was signed in the summer of 2008, and he quickly got
into goalscoring form, netting an audacious chip from the edge of the
area at Hull in October that year, an automatic Chelsea Goal of the
Season contender though eventually edged out by
Michael Essien's Champions League volley against Barcelona.
As the performances of those around him began to wane, Frank's form
remained consistent under Luiz Felipe Scolari, scoring key goals over
Christmas 2008 to keep the team in touch with the league leaders.
The arrival of Guus Hiddink midway through the campaign brought
extended freedom for Lampard, who repaid his coach with late goals in a
league win over Wigan and a 4-4 Champions League thriller against
Liverpool, before we eventually bowed out of Europe in controversial
circumstances against Barcelona. There was however joy when his
second-half strike won the 2009 FA Cup against Everton, his goal
celebration a nod to that of his father's in an FA Cup semi-final 29
years earlier.
With an incredible 27 goals from central midfield in 2009/10 and a
sack-full of assists as Chelsea won the Double, it seemed Frank was
improving with age, especially factoring in his resistance to injury and
his ability to avoid a single yellow card in the whole of that season.
His historic '09/'10 season began as it would end - at Wembley -
where he contributed a Community Shield goal, helped set up another, and
then buried a penalty in the successful shootout.
The 31-year-old actually went 10 games without a goal before four in three arrived in October.
After a penalty miss at Man City at the beginning of a difficult
Christmas period, it was two successful penalties that dug the team out
of trouble against Portsmouth and West Ham.
He bounced back from Champions League disappointment against Inter
Milan in the first knockout round by banging in four league goals
against Aston Villa in a 7-1 rout.
The feat, the second time he had achieved such a tally in a game, took him over the 150-goal mark for Chelsea and beyond
Roy Bentley to become our third-highest scorer of all time.
After converting another penalty against Villa at Wembley to book a
place in the FA Cup Final, the focus shifted to league football for the
next five games, and it was there where Frank really delivered.
At Anfield there were major celebrations as he swept home
Nicolas Anelka's centre to confirm crucial victory in the run-in.
In the final league game Frank won and took a penalty to put Carlo
Ancelotti's team two goals to the good as we ran riot against Wigan,
setting up the Double should we beat Portsmouth in the FA Cup Final.
It was a Drogba free-kick that broke the deadlock that Wembley May
day, and even though Frank's final contribution was to drag a penalty
wide at the death, he was there in the Royal Box to lift the trophy
alongside
John Terry.
The 2010/11 season was a rare one in the Lampard collection in that
it was afflicted with lengthy injury. Recovering from a routine hernia
op, he suffered a tendon injury at the top of his leg in training which
lengthened the absence to four months during which team form declined.
He scored his second goal of the season in the first game of 2011 and still collected 13 goals by the end. On April 6
th
in a home Champions League game against Manchester United, he become
only the fourth player to make 500 appearances for Chelsea.
The 2011/12 season featured the sideshow of Lampard slowly but surely edging towards
Bobby Tambling's
all-time club goalscoring record. It was a vintage Lampard performance
at the Reebok, a very happy hunting ground for him and Chelsea, in early
October as the midfielder hit a hat-trick. He hit three goals on the
spin at the start of 2012 and netted a crucial late penalty against
Napoli to level the tie on aggregate, his 14th of the season.
As the season drew to a close, Lampard's ability and experience, as
so often in the past, rose to the fore. He scored a sublime free-kick in
the 5-1 FA Cup semi-final win against Tottenham Hotspur at Wembley, as
well as teeing up Didier Drogba for what proved to be the winning goal
in the Final of the same competition.
He finished the season by skippering the side for the Champions League Final in Munich in
John Terry's
absence, and capped a wonderful display by lifting the trophy alongside
the suspended captain after scoring our third penalty in the shoot-out.
Lampard began the current season is typical fashion, scoring our
second goal from the penalty spot in the opening-day 2-0 win away at
Wigan Athletic, before doing the same three days later against Reading
at Stamford Bridge.
His first goal of the season from open play came during the 4-1 win
against Norwich City when he fired us into a 2-1 lead from the edge of
the penalty area, his 189th goal for the club.
Pre-ChelseaIronically, Frank's ever-present habit was one
of the reasons why he was under-appreciated by some at the club that
nurtured him.
With Frank's father the West Ham first team coach when the teenager
broke into the first team there, sections of the support at Upton Park
cried nepotism over the son's regular place in their side. He was
ever-present in the Hammers team that finished fifth in '98/'99 and was
capped for England the next season.
However when manager Harry Redknapp and Frank senior were sacked in
2001, it was time for Frank to move on and although Leeds was a possible
destination at the time, it was across London the player went as he
sought a club where he could take his career to the next level.
International goalAfter a debut against
Belgium in 1999, Frank would have to wait until June 2003 to feature for
a full 90 minutes in an England shirt, and he scored his first goal
that August against Croatia.
He was well worth his place in the Euro 2004 team and was voted the
England team's Player of the Year after three goals in four tournament
games, and he won the poll again in 2005.
That made it all the more surprising when Frank failed to register on
the score sheet in the 2006 World Cup in Germany, despite shooting more
frequently than anyone.
It drew outside criticism, his years of incredibly consistent
achievement seemingly forgotten, but after a lean spell under Steve
McClaren he returned to goalscoring form under Fabio Capello, and
Frank's critics began to re-evaluate their opinions and he was finally
being appreciated in an England shirt too.
Unlike in 2006, Frank went into the 2010 World Cup in red-hot scoring form, even by his own extraordinary standards.
However as Capello played with the jigsaw of England's midfield,
Frank's goal threat again appeared diminished although he was one of the
best players against Slovenia in the third group game, and was
infamously denied his first World Cup goal by a ludicrous linesman's
decision as England exited versus Germany.
A hernia operation meant he sat out the beginning of England's Euro
2012 qualifying campaign but he returned in 2011 with goals and
victories with the three lions on his chest. No Chelsea player has won
more international caps while playing for the club.
Frank took the captain's armband for England's friendly against Spain in November, scoring the only goal of the game.
Sadly for him, however, after being named in Roy Hodgson's final
squad for the tournament, he picked up a hamstring injury shortly after
joining up with his teammates and was ruled out of the tournament.
However, in the first friendly following the tournament - against
Italy in Berne - Lampard was once again named captain, playing a pivotal
role as England came from behind to win 2-1.
He was then named in the squad ahead of the World Cup qualifiiers
against Moldova and Ukraine, subsequently scoring three times over the
course of the two games.
Lampard was named in the squad for the games against San Marino and
Poland in October 2012, but was forced to pull out due to a calf injury.
