big announcement 5pm at Chelsea...

[dell boy]

But he's scored more goals for England, in fewer games, than yer man Steven Gerrard?

So what, does that make him a better player?

[dell boy]

euro 2004 he was our best player. FACT

well maybe second best, but the point still stands.

Your opinion, not fact.

[Bogus Dave]

Lebowksi brings up an interesting point. Though i think gerrard is the better player, lampard has done more for england than gerrard has

[michael]

Well yes Gerrard does more against yer West Hams and that, but Lampard definitely has the better international career. As shown by my facts.

[dell boy]

No real point in arguing the Gerrard/Lampard case is there, it is all down to a matter of opinion.
Last question: If Gerrard and Lampard came on the market right now, what would be the valuation for each player?

[Bogus Dave]

Gerrard. quite easily

[JPC82]

No real point in arguing the Gerrard/Lampard case is there, it is all down to a matter of opinion.
Last question: If Gerrard and Lampard came on the market right now, what would be the valuation for each player?

like u say no point arguing cos there i nearly 3 years difference between them so prices wouldnt reflect how better one of them is than the other.
for what its worth if i could have gerrard or lampard id have Gerrard, but Lampard is still a fantastic player as his record shows

[michael]

I like both of them 

[Batch]

I like both of them 

So did Steve McLaren, and look what happened to him.

[janaage]

Would you leave your local area (if you liked it) for a job somewhere else, less certain and not for any more money? From a career perspective you wouldn't, especially if you only have a short career span left in you.

To be fair I think Frank's not that concerned about maximising his earnings now (he must be a multi millionaire by now) and to be fair if he signed on at Barca the signing on fee he'd receive would be huge.  And if someone offered me a similar job to the one I have now in another country of course I'd go for it, especially if moving costs didn;t come into it.  Wouldn't you?  Would you rather stay in Wiltshire? 

[Simon Pieman]

To be fair I think Frank's not that concerned about maximising his earnings now (he must be a multi millionaire by now) and to be fair if he signed on at Barca the signing on fee he'd receive would be huge.  And if someone offered me a similar job to the one I have now in another country of course I'd go for it, especially if moving costs didn;t come into it.  Wouldn't you?  Would you rather stay in Wiltshire? 

There are so many factors Jan, he's got a kid, is a Londoner and British players are generally not well received abroad.

I don't think I could work abroad for 3 years contract, I'd miss my family and friends and STFC.

[Simon Pieman]

2 kids apparently. Wow I must have missed Heat magazine that week.

[janaage]

He's Mrs is foreign though isn't she (spanish?) so he'd settle in okay over there.  Not picking an argument about it, and not specifically talking about Lampard but it'd be great to have a couple of top notch british players plying their trade overseas.  Serie A was brilliant when Gazza, Walker and Gail's son from corrie were in Italia!!

[Don Rogers Shop]

To be honest comparing his and gerrards goals for England is a bit false as its always gerrard who has to sit deep and in international football he cant gamble and get forward as much as he could against say wigan foe example.

As for missing family etc surely that’s what the massive wages footballers get is supposed to soften the blow of?

[Lumps]

I've never really accepted this idea that Gerrard and Lampard are "too similar". They are both modern centre midfield players coached by these dolts that seem to think that all players in a position should have an identical skill set, and as a result try to play the same sort of game, but when you look at their natural abilities they're actually quite different players.

Gerrard has more of the traditional box to box midfielder about him, in the style of a young Bryan Robson or Roy Keane. He will collect the ball in his own half and carry it upfield. That's why when managers play him out wide he doesn't look completely lost. What he doesn't have is the kind of brilliant close control ala Gazza, or out and out pace that you need to take a ball past a defender of real quality.

Lampard is far more effective in the opponents half, and in particluar around the edge of the penalty area. He play's nice little one-two's, weighted balls for team-mates to run onto, little chips over the top, makes good late runs, and shoots well from 20-25 yards. He's far more like Paul Scholes, but he can tackle a bit.

Now a CM combination of Roy Keane and Paul Scholes always seemed to work quite well for Man U, even back when Roy had legs and wanted to get forward more.

What has fucked up the England midfield for years if you ask me isn't the combination in the centre of the park but what goes on around it. Specifically the lack of any wide players with sufficient quality to provide some penetration. Playing Beckham in a wide position, when he lacked any of the attributes of a winger, and never really had the beating of a fullback worked for Utd because on the other flank they had Giggs who could get in behind a defence and make it to the byline. England never had that, and it limited their options going forward, forcing them to either play their way through the middle or deliver longer angled balls into the penalty area from wide positions.

It's no wonder England's players used to get in each others way, there were big areas of the pitch, in the corners of the oppositions half which were completely empty, other than the odd forward raid by a fullback.

It's only since Rooney, who will pull wide, and Cole and now Richards, who have the pace to get well forward from fullback, have been in the side that there's been a bit more width.

Gerrard and Lampard would have worked fine with at least one genuine wide player in the midfield, but might have been really good in a 3-5-2 with a more holding player like Hargreaves anchoring the centre and Cole and Richards as Wingbacks.