WC2006 Biggest flop

[oxford_fan]

He was runner up in the european player of a year for a reason, he was playing superbly for both club and country and it was his goals that took us to the world cup. He is world class, no question.

couldn't perform on the world class stage though?

he's damn good, no doubting that at all. didn't prove he was world class on the biggest world stage though, maybe the opposite actually.

[DV]

I used to know a fella down at Billericay (one of our old managers) who knew Alvin Martin very well.  Apparently Alvin Martin always said that if Frank Jr wasn't Frank Lampard Sr's son, he'd never had made it through the ranks at West Ham.  A little harsh I feel, but Frank Sr had to go to the Youth Coach/Manager a few times to make sure Franck was kept on at the end of the year.

Fucking good job he was kept on though because despite an average world cup he is without doubt one of the world's best players and easily the best player to have played for West Ham in recent years.

Apart from Joe Cole.....and Rio Ferdinand....

Frank Lampard is good, no question....but if you took him out of Chelseas midfield and stuck him in Liverpools midfield would he have the same impact as Steven Gerrard does, I think not....

[Ben Wah Balls]

He was runner up in the european player of a year for a reason, he was playing superbly for both club and country and it was his goals that took us to the world cup. He is world class, no question.

couldn't perform on the world class stage though?

he's damn good, no doubting that at all. didn't prove he was world class on the biggest world stage though, maybe the opposite actually.

He was in the team of the tournament in euro 2004, which is also a world class stage.

[Ben Wah Balls]

I used to know a fella down at Billericay (one of our old managers) who knew Alvin Martin very well.  Apparently Alvin Martin always said that if Frank Jr wasn't Frank Lampard Sr's son, he'd never had made it through the ranks at West Ham.  A little harsh I feel, but Frank Sr had to go to the Youth Coach/Manager a few times to make sure Franck was kept on at the end of the year.

Fucking good job he was kept on though because despite an average world cup he is without doubt one of the world's best players and easily the best player to have played for West Ham in recent years.

Apart from Joe Cole.....and Rio Ferdinand....

Frank Lampard is good, no question....but if you took him out of Chelseas midfield and stuck him in Liverpools midfield would he have the same impact as Steven Gerrard does, I think not....

I think he would have the same impact as Gerrard at Liverpool definitely. Liverpool have a strong midfield even without Gerrard anyway.

I like Joe Cole but he's not even close to being as proven as Lampard, Lampard has been Chelsea's key player for 3 seasons and one of England's best too, Joe Cole has only broken into the Chelsea and England teams full time over the last season or so. I don't think Ferdinand's close to being as good as Lampard either. England only played 5 games at the world cup, it's silly to write off Lampard based on that when he's proved himself over 100's of games.

[pumbaa]

I used to know a fella down at Billericay (one of our old managers) who knew Alvin Martin very well.  Apparently Alvin Martin always said that if Frank Jr wasn't Frank Lampard Sr's son, he'd never had made it through the ranks at West Ham.  A little harsh I feel, but Frank Sr had to go to the Youth Coach/Manager a few times to make sure Franck was kept on at the end of the year.

Fucking good job he was kept on though because despite an average world cup he is without doubt one of the world's best players and easily the best player to have played for West Ham in recent years.

I agree with your sentiment Ben, just telling the story as told to me.  When he was around the age of 16 he started to concentrate on being that midfielder who made the late burst into the box, then he started scoring and the rest is history.  Lucky for the hammers that they kept faith in the Frank Lampards I suppose.

Strange then that all the Hammers fans I know were rejoicing when Chelsea gave them a lot of money for Lampard. They never rated him and thought he was only kept on because of his dad. I guess they have some egg on face after his performances for Chelsea over the past few seasons. I agree he was disappointing in this tournament, as was Goofy chops, but for me the biggest disappointment was Ibrahimovic, who I thought was truly awful for such a highly rated player.