The testimony of who is better between Paul Schole and Frank
Lampard was confirmed by the Ex Liverpoor defender Jamie Carragher in a interview.
Will we ever get there? It’s a question Frank Lampard and I would
ask each other when we were starting out. We were room-mates when we played
together for England’s Under 21s — he was the captain and I was his deputy.
We were partners in midfield and that meant spending a lot of time
together at our base in Hertfordshire at Sopwell House.
Both of us loved playing for the Under 21s and relished our
responsibilities. But, each time we joined up, there would be a sense of
longing. Back then, the Under 21s would travel around with the seniors to
games. We would see all the household names and were desperate to play
alongside them.
I have to admit, my overwhelming ambition at the time was to get established with Liverpool and win honours. If I did that, I was sure England recognition would follow. Frank, though, was anxious to represent England and that was evident in the conversations we used to have in our room.
After all, a number of young players had been fast-tracked. Steven
Gerrard, Michael Owen and Rio Ferdinand all quickly progressed through the
Under 21s but Frank and I served our time — I won 27 caps, he got 19 — and did
it the hard way. It is why I have great admiration for him for becoming
England’s latest centurion.
This latest achievement puts the gloss on his glittering career. I
regard him as the greatest player in Chelsea’s history; better than Drogba,
Osgood, Hudson and the rest.
Yet when I first met Frank, he wasn’t even the best player at West Ham! At the national school trials in 1992, we all knew who Frank was because he was the son of a footballer but the boy at his club who was supposed to be destined for stardom was a tricky attacking player called Lee Hodges.
As it turned out, neither of them won a place at Lilleshall —
Hodges, for the record, ended up spending his career largely in non-League — so
our next meeting was when Liverpool beat West Ham in the FA Youth Cup final in
1996.
We won the first leg at Upton Park 2-0 and eventually completed
the job at Anfield but Frank caused us to panic in the return leg when he
scored a first-minute goal in front of the Kop.
It was the type of strike that became his trademark, a thumping
drive into the roof of the net from the edge of the box. Why has he become so
good at it? Practice has made him perfect.
After every training session with England he would religiously
strike five or 10 penalties. He would do extra running and spend time on his
technique.
Those good habits remain. He is one of only a few players to perfect the Cristiano Ronaldo free-kick, striking the ball with his laces. He has only perfected that in the last couple of years, so it shows that even at 35 you can keep on improving.
I have always said Steven Gerrard was born world class, whereas
Frank became world class. That is not a slight. It should serve as an
inspiration. He has had to contend with some knocks down the years but he kept
bettering himself. His mental strength is one of his greatest assets.
Frank has a catalogue of golden moments and, for that reason, I have
him behind Steven but ahead of Paul Scholes in my list of the Premier League’s
top three English midfielders.
I know Barcelona’s Xavi described Scholes as the best midfielder of the last 20
years but Frank has influenced more big games — his goals clinched Chelsea’s
first title in 2005, he has won them an FA Cup final and scored in a Champions
League final.
He has also played more and scored more for England, and his tally
of 166 Premier League goals — the highest by a midfielder — outstrips the 107
Scholes scored.
Mentioning Scholes brings us back to England. When we became
regulars under Sven Goran Eriksson, the rapport Frank and I enjoyed with the
Under 21s had diluted — a consequence of the rivalry that had escalated between
Liverpool and Chelsea. We were not as close.
My respect for him, however, remained and I was adamant he merited
playing alongside Gerrard. If anything, Eriksson made a mess of whether Gerrard
and Lampard could be a partnership. Of course they could have. A strong manager
would have told Steven to play the holding role — that is more in his make-up —
and to let Frank go forward.
But he didn’t. He fudged it. That’s why Scholes ended up out on the left and eventually in international retirement.
This is not an attack on Scholes — it is anything but. It is just
important to illustrate what Lampard has achieved as I don’t believe he has had
the credit he deserves.
Great talent, single-mindedness and outstanding numbers: four FA
Cups, three league titles, a Champions League and Europa League winner, 100
caps and, to the envy of many strikers, a ratio of a goal every three
appearances for England.
When I look back at my career, I feel great pride but Frank
achieved much more. Without doubt, he did what he set out to do at Sopwell
House. He got there.
