Frank
Lampard was one of the best midfielders of his generation, but how did he
get there? He reveals all to Patrick Davison on
Soccer Saturday
ahead of Chelsea's trip to Manchester City, live on
Sky Sports.
After starting his playing career at West Ham, Lampard was best known for
his time at Chelsea, where he made 648 appearances and won a number of
trophies, including the Champions League and three Premier League titles.
But how did the current Chelsea manager make it as one of the Premier
League's top players? Lampard himself credits his parents for his drive to
succeed.
He told Soccer Saturday: "It's thousands of hours of work, simple as that. I
was fortunate enough to grow up in a football family that set me a work
ethic, particularly from my parents, who told me that I won't get anything
in life unless I absolutely dedicate myself and work towards it and I never
lost that attitude in my playing career thankfully.
"I wasn't a saint forever because you have to be a person, but when it comes
to your work, you have to understand you can only get out of football what
you put in. It's a very simple, old school saying, but I truly believe it.
"From being a young boy, being told to run quicker round the block by my
dad, to when you're in your late 20s or early 30s and you're still doing
extra sprints or extra runs. Those are all the ingredients.
"I remember playing against [Patrick] Vieira and his athleticism, his long
legs and the way he flicked the ball over my head a couple of times at
Highbury and got it the other side, I was like 'wow, these levels are things
I'm going to have to try and reach'.
"Sometimes it wasn't nice because it feels like those players a million
miles away from you, but you try and close the gap, you dedicate yourself to
what you can improve. Every young player has the same thoughts, we all have
those days at a young age where you think you're nowhere near it yet and
then it's up to you."
Playing in a 'big game' team
There were plenty of trophies for Lampard at Chelsea - three Premier League
titles, four FA Cups, a Champions League and Europa League just to name a
few - and he credits his team-mates during those years for the success.
"Nobody can do it on their own, I certainly couldn't, and you're as good as
your team-mates on and off the pitch," he added.
"When I looked around generally and the squad would change slightly year on
year, but we had that real core of players who you rely on who were
personalities. They would stand up in the difficult times because it's easy
on a good run when you're winning comfortably and rolling teams over at home
or whatever, but it's tougher when people question you.
"You wonder if you're going to bounce back from a defeat or from a bad run
and fortunately for me, when I think of the people I worked with here at
Chelsea, they were the reason we managed to win titles but also for me
personally, to be a big part of it.
"We tended to [deliver in big games] and that's why I respect such big
teams. You look at Man City and Liverpool and what they're doing now, having
been a player and knowing the expectation and demands of playing the likes
of Liverpool multiple times in the Champions League and trying to perform on
those huge nights that were so important to us all.
"You realise even more when you finish that if you can produce on those big
nights and do something special, they are moments that live in history.
"They [the big games] naturally take you to somewhere else. I don't think
the preparation changes, I was quite meticulous with that and I didn't
change things going into those games, but the build-up with the extra media,
the feeling in the morning when you wake up, the standing in the tunnel, the
video the manager might show you about the players you might come up
against, they naturally bring the levels up in terms of how you feel about
the game.
"Then when you step out with the crowd and the cameras are there, of course
it brings another level to it and that can be the deciding factor for you
individually or as a team of where you're going to get to."
Passing on the torch
Now, Lampard is on the other side of the white line as a manager and will be
leading his young Chelsea side into another big game as they take on Premier
League champions - and one of Lampard's former team - Manchester City on
Saturday Night Football.
But the 41-year-old does not want his side to be judged on their performance
at the Etihad alone.
"We are playing Man City and I'm not going to judge us right now on that one
game. I will judge us over what we've done until now, how we keep improving,
how we work and where we go over a bigger period.
"We know that when you go to Man City or any of these big teams that you can
lose, but what you must do is give everything and not roll over, no matter
what happens, and you must fight until the end and give everything you can
as a team.
"We won't change our plan hugely. Some people ask if we're going to go there
and defend or can we go and attack but you're going to have to defend, it's
all about how well you do it and it's going to be a huge part of the game.
"There's a balance to it for me and one thing is that we're playing well. I
don't want to hide that from the players and double bluff them - they are
playing well and they should know that.
"But the other thing is, when you come up against these teams, you don't
know if you're going to be judged at the end of the season on these games
because there are 38 matches in a season and we want to win a huge majority
of them.
"But you do know that when you come up against them head-to-head, the level
of detail and the finer moments of the game will be the deciding factor. I
try and tell them that they're playing well let's try and look up and look
to the teams who have set standards, especially Man City and Liverpool over
the last two years, and we can aspire to be anywhere near to them."
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