Lampard bounces back to silence his army of critics

The 33-year-old Chelsea midfielder was handed a recall to the starting XI in Tuesday night’s Euro 2012 qualifying win over Wales.

His return to the side after being dropped for the previous game against Bulgaria came as a major surprise, not least to the sections of the media who had suggested in the wake of the 3-0 win in Sofia that his international career was all but over due to Fabio Capello wanting to focus on youth.

Lampard, who claimed his 88th cap against the Welsh, said: “I will always want to play for England.

“If you join a squad and are not bothered if you sit on the bench and don’t play then that means there is not much point turning up.

“I want to play. But if I don’t play then I make sure I am professional and deal with it in the right way.

“You have to train hard in the week and if you do come on, you have to do your best.

“That is what I will always try to do.

“I understand at 38 I won’t be playing for England. I’d rather be sitting on the settee thinking, ‘well I gave everything to play as well as I could in my career’.

“I don’t want to ever be thinking, ‘I could have done a bit more’.”

Lampard’s desire to prove his critics wrong has been a feature of a career that has brought Premier League titles and 22 goals for his country.

Initially dubbed ‘Fat Frank’ after breaking into the West Ham first team, he then had to endure derogatory comparisons with his dad, Frank senior.

Then, after moving to Chelsea, Lampard again had to win over the critics before becoming one of the Premier League’s top performers.

On the international stage, it has been a similar story with Lampard regularly being booed at Wembley.

After having to overcome all those hurdles, it is perhaps, therefore, not a surprise that being written off in the wake of last Friday’s win over Bulgaria did not unduly bother the midfielder.

He said: “The week has been fine. I am at an age and maturity now where I have seen things, particularly after the World Cup in 2006.

“The age thing is something that happens. I have been here before. I have had slow starts to the season in the past, when I was 25 or 26 after the World Cup for instance.

“I wasn’t told I was old then, just that I was crap. Now I am old and crap, a double whammy!

“But I have maturity now. At 25, I may have reacted differently. But once you have been around the block you understand things a bit more.

“I have to play well for Chelsea every week and if I do that, I will be in contention for England.

“I have never been someone who expects to play for England. I am very proud to play for my country.

“The manager will pick you if your performances are good. It is as simple as that.

“A lot of the players will say the same, you can never take your place for granted. There is too much quality around to think like that.

“If you start worrying about what people say and that you aren’t getting recognition then, first of all, you sound like a moaner.

“Second of all, you have taken your eye off the ball.

“I still think I have things to offer England. It will all come down to how well I am playing.

“As long as I am showing the energy and desire to play along with the quality, there is a chance you can be picked.”

Asked if he had a specific target in terms of caps, he replied: “I would love to get to 100 but I am not the type to hang around to try and achieve it. I will play as long as I can.”

England’s laboured display against Wales was criticised by Capello, who suggested the pressure of needing to win at home for the first time in a year may have got to his players.

On his manager’s comments, Lampard added: “Maybe that is right. We had plenty of confidence going into the game after what had happened Friday night.

“Sometimes, the game doesn’t have the spark you want and the chances don’t come along like you want them to.

“But we had to grind out the result, which is something even the best teams in the world have to do.

“We weren’t at our best. We respected Wales and always thought it was going to be a tough game.

“They almost had nothing to lose and had a freedom about them but the main thing is we got the result.”

Tuesday night’s victory was England’s first in five home games going back a year.

Asked if they had been feeling any extra tension playing at Wembley, Stewart Downing – who set-up the only goal for Ashley Young – said: “I don’t know.

“Maybe we didn’t pass it as well as we did against Bulgaria. If we did that, we might have got a few more goals.

“It (the win) puts us in a good position going into Montenegro, which is going to be another tough game.”

England are now six points clear of Montenegro after winning twice in four days, knowing a draw in next month’s top-of-the-table showdown would seal their place in Poland and Ukraine.