Easily The Most Consistent Player In The World Over 2004-09
I’m not writing this post just because Frank Lampard Jr. is the player I like most in the world, but because any sane Chelsea fan would say the same for this highly underrated midfielder that swells Chelsea’s might on the pitch. Ask any neutral what they like about Chelsea (which isn’t saying much because everyone is so busy hating Chelsea), and they would definitely say Captain Fantastic JT or The Drog. I agree they are good players, but they fail to see who actually pulls the strings for Chelsea. For me, Essien and Lampard are the 2 best players Chelsea have.
Most argue that Frank isn’t one of the greatest midfielders in the world just because he doesn’t perform at national level. It would be quite unfair to a player who has been a runner-up in the race for the title of best player in the world at one time, and a man who averages 20 goals a season for a club. 20 goals for any midfielder is a dream come true, and hardly any of them get even close to that total. Just goes to show you how important Frank is to the Chelsea cause. In the past 5 season, he has been everpresent for Chelsea, with only a few injuries bogging him down.
Statistics speak for themselves, don’t they?
Frank’s now averaged approx. 20 goals for a straight fifth season. In percentage terms, that’s equivalent to 0.39 goals for every game he plays in. No wonder he’s the only Premier League midfielder alongside Matthew Le Tissier to have scored more than 100 goals.
It’s not just Frank’s goals either. Alongside Dimitar Berbatov he boasts the most number of assists in the Premier League creating goals for everyone, especially Malouda, Drogs and Anelka who have thrived on the sharp angular passes that have set them loose on goal.
Even at the age of 30, he continues playing game-in, game-out for Chelsea. And he doesn’t just play, he produces some of the best performances of passing and creating goal-scoring chances for his team-mates. Now, who’s laughing about the £11 million we paid for him when we got him from the Hammers?
Lampard recently(2008) signed a new deal committing him to Chelsea for the next 5 years for a whopping £39 million . And let me tell you, at the rate Lampard keeps going, he isn’t going to stop playing even when he’s 35. As some great player remarked (I don’t remember who), Lampard is one of those players who can keep going till he’s 40. And for an outfield player who outruns his younger colleagues and never stops running to get a goal for a team, that is very remarkable. Again, any comments on why Lampard deserves the money he gets?
Most Chelsea fans are still baffled as to why he never got any nominations for any awards this year (PFA or FWA). Gerrard won the FWA award?! Gerrard probably beat out United boys Giggs(??~@#$) and Rooney for his hardware. The PFA list was even more hilarious. It featured six players, five of which resided in the red half of Manchester. Ludicrous? As Drogba would say, “It’s a fucking disgrace”.
Why Lampard has yet to win a PFA award is just as bemusing as his omission this time around. This year’s honor, which covers part of 2007-08 as well, should have been all Frank. It’s quite an easy argument, really.
This season, at the time of the announcement of nominations (mid-April), Super Frank had already punched home 19 goals from 46 appearances while adding 17 assists. That’s more than a goal every three matches, an astonishing tally for a midfielder. I have also read that Lampard, as of late April, had created 131 scoring chances for teammates — a number more than double that of Gerrard, who sat at 70. This was said to be a new Premier League record.
As of right now, Lampard has 20 goals and 20 assists in 67 starts in all competitions. Those are phenomenal numbers, my friends.
And remember, much of this was done with Chelsea imploding from nearly every angle. At one point, Scolari was sinking the ship; Drogba was nowhere to be found. And we were on the verge of plummeting down the Premier League standings. Maybe those drab performances through the middle of the season — seeing as votes have to be submitted by the end of February — skewed the eyes of voters. It should have been the opposite; this man continued to flourish while so many around him were floundering.
His performance in Chelsea’s 4-4 draw with Liverpool in the second leg of the Champions League quarterfinal was exquisite. Netting twice, the last of which capped the night, Lampard was superlative. He was, simply put, the star of the game of the season. If that’s not worth a nomination, I don’t know what is.
Over the past five years, I’d wager no player in the Premier League — native or foreign — has been as consistently good as Frank Lampard. This will be his fourth consecutive season with 20 goals. Let me break that down for you: 20 in 2005-06, 21 in 2006-07 and 20 in 2007-08. He netted 19 in 2004-05. Simply put, this kind of achievement is amazing. A midfielder with a 20 goals per season average? Crazy.
There it is. I rest my case. When it comes to Premier League performers, there are few — if any — better than one Frank Lampard.
Disclaimer: Some of this post has been copy-pasted from some of my favourite sites. I’m not claiming it to be my own. But I loved the way the guys expressed their love for the most consistent player on the planet.
pratap said,
May 30, 2009 at 9:06 pm
Your Captain fantastic and Lampard are the only two players who I respect as players and frankly the tow of them are the only people any neutral “football lover” would respect. About the other players on your roster, I don;t think I should start because I wouldn’t be able to stop myself from indulging in Chelea players’ bashing which after the Russian mafia’s takeover, I like doing a lot. And I have reasons apart from being an Arsenal supporter
.
Anyhow I sincerely feel Gerard’s award was well deserved. For me United undeservedly won the league this year. Liverpool and Gerard deserved to get it. And the PFA award is a joke really. Giigs?!? Nevermind, that whole process is flawed. The first title chelsea won, i feel Lampard deserved the PFA award that season but JT took it away from him. (if my memory serves me correctly)
And as I type frank lampard scores his 20th goal for this season !
Anyhow saar, best of luck for your remaining papers
thesongremainsthesame said,
May 30, 2009 at 11:05 pm
Essien? I thought it was only Lampard and Essien. Anyway, yes, United deserved to win the league. Doubtlessly, but PFA player of the year for a player who’s started less than 10 matches?! Anyway, as some wise guy said about today’s FA Cup, if Chelsea win, they’ll be called mercenaries who vindicated the importance of money in today’s game, and if they lose, they’ll still be called mercenaries who were given a good bashing my the underdogs. We’ll have to live long to actually see neutrals who see both the good and bad points of Chelsea.
Nachiket said,
June 1, 2009 at 12:59 pm
That a good article you put up there, copied in bits and pieces as you claim, but an interesting read nevertheless.
The FWA awards are not necessarily based on mere statistics.And statistics do speak for themselves, but they don’t paint a true picture. Agreed that Lampard has had yet another consistent season. And consistency is his forte. His assists too, have been numerous. But its the impact that he’s had in crunch games that is deemed to be the deciding factor while giving out the FWA.
Jurgen Kinsmann won the FWA in the 94-95 season when he was the 6th top scorer in the EPL. Alan Shearer was a good 14/15 goals ahead of him at the end of the season. But Klinsmann’s goals couldn’t have come at more oportune moments. He scored vital away goals at Crystal Palace, Liverpool and Chelsea, ensuring that Spurs make it to the (now defunct) UEFA cup.
The point that I am trying to make is that the FWA is not an award on merely the number of goals and assists etc. Its on the impact a player has had in a season. Gerrard, is much more versatile than Lampard. Gerrard can play on the wing, be a centre middle, a holding middle and play defensive middle. He’s done all positions with a good degree of success.
Lampard, and I like him a lot as a player, has just not been that impact laden. Almost all the games where he is needed to perform, the semi final against Barcelona, The league ties against Tottenham ( H) , Man Utd ( A) and Liverpool ( A) he was a spectator on the field.