PRESS CONFERENCE | Frank Lampard and Frank Onyeka look ahead to Middlesbrough. 🎙️

Frank, I spoke to Dion Dublin yesterday, you'll be aware he was here doing the British Heart Foundation and Every Minute Matters campaign, of course, he was captain here for being a top scorer for four consecutive seasons, and he was saying that in a strange way now being second might almost work in your favour moving forward. Who knows, I understand the point, I understand we talk about different pressures, whether you're first or second, those pressures are great, if you're the bottom at the start of the season, first or second is a pressure of a bit in your hand off. I understand the point, probably what was our form was amazing first half of the season, really, really amazing, and the fact is that Barrow have gone into similar sort of form that we were in, and we've come off it a bit. So I'm less worried about comparing pressures all the time, I'm more worried about the week's training that we've got, the group that we've got, and how we approach this game, and then there'll be 14 others. So is this a must-win? No, because there's 14 others, do we want to win it? Absolutely, yes, and we have to give everything to try and do that. And hand-in-hand with the supporters, I mean, they've got a huge role to play in this particular game to try and drive you forward and ultimately to three points, which is what you want, Frank? Yeah, I mean, that's what home advantage is all about, and if done well, which we've done it well in this last year, where we've won a lot of football matches at home because we've been together and it starts with the players and the energy of the team. But we're also going to have to understand this is a good footballing team coming up against us, so will it be a trade-off in terms of possession? They have a lot of possession in the game, so do we in games, so there'll be moments of that. So there'll be a lot of, you'd expect, flows in the game, but I know the fans will be with us and give us the support they've given us since we've been here. Yeah, it needs a little bit of patience though, it's not going to happen instantly, well hopefully it will happen instantly, but it doesn't always happen like that in a football match. We have to be very focused on our game plan and the job that we do, and it's very easy to say you're going to high-press a team for 90 minutes, like the reality is they're trying to win the game as well, they're trying to play football as well. So there'll be moments when we have to be very strong in our organisation and I think the fans will understand it. Things like that, if they're done well, if they're done well with good focus and attention from our players, whether you're in a higher block, trying to go man-to-man, whether you're lower down the pitch, all those things, if they're done with great intensity, I think the fans appreciate that and we'll try and do our part of the deal there. Do you employ a psychologist, not you personally, but for the players, is there a psychologist available to them or is that not a role that you necessarily… Yeah, there is, we've got Joe here who works with the players and he's very, very good, he strikes a very good balance. It's never really been for me, that's my personal opinion, but some players of course there's a support for them and obviously my role and us as staff is to also be that support for them, even though we're not actual professionals specifically. And it's your, obviously you can prepare them physically, but then you never know what is going to be between their ears when they step over the white line. No, and that's modern management, right? As much as it's tactics, it is about that stuff and trying to understand the group and where players are and what moment they're in and how you can support them as well as you possibly can. So that's something where you try and read the room as you go through the season and moments to speak to players and have a word. It's part of the job, but what's important for us now is action. It's training and action, training to get in the team, training to stay in the team, play to stay in the team, all those things. We've got a good competitive squad now. I spent half the season talking about a thin squad, it was thin and we maybe found that out over the Christmas period a little bit, but it's fine, we're in a good position and now it's about being competitive and trying to win games. And how's Efron Mason-Clark? He took a bang on the foot a couple of games ago, how is he shaping up? He's started to do some work through this week, so we're hoping he'll be training over the weekend. And you know Markello, where is he with his fitness at the moment? Training well, getting fit and it's good. And what was the other one? Oh yeah, Frank Onyeka, obviously I've talked about him before, having the baby, his wife's had the baby, so excellent, both of them as a family. And how has he been focused now in training on trying to make his way into the team? Ready to go, had a couple of days off, had the baby on Sunday, Sunday-Monday, so he's training with us and ready. So it's good to have a little bit of training time for him before we start to look at games going forward. What's your make of the season? Very good season, they were a good team in the league, I knew that, we played them last year right at the back end of the season, I think it was the last game. They were not in their best moment then, but you could see the talent within their squad and obviously they had their summer or whatever, but they started the season strong, the change of manager came around while they were pretty strong, the manager's had a great start to his job, great start with a lot of respect from the outside, how he's got them playing and fair play to them. Again, that's why we're pretty much toe-to-toe with them, I think us and them have been really toe-to-toe for a lot of the way, even if we were some points ahead, they've clawed that back in the last week pretty much, where we've dropped eight points and they've gained nine, which obviously changes the face of it, but the reality is it's two good teams going against each other. And comparing it to the last time you played them, are you expecting a very different game on Monday? Yes, because I think every game is different, we beat them 4-2, it was an outstanding result for us, but they were good in the game as well, they've got good football players, they're good physically and there's some changes you can see to how they're playing, which is credit to the manager to put his imprint on them, I've been watching closely. Yeah, the game could look and feel different to what it did up there. Just finally, I know you will know better than most that there are certain matches, certain wins in season, which can really help boost the club, give it the lift it needs going into the back end of the season. This is one of them, isn't it? Yeah, I think firstly, secondly, yeah, it is one of them. I'll soften that down with saying that there are 14 massive ones after, but there's no doubt when you're in this position, the way they're playing, we're playing at home, there's lots of ingredients to the game that make it a hugely important game and we will have to be at our best to win the game. Frank, how would you describe yourself as a player? What are your key qualities, do you think? Strong, winning duels, tackling, taking the ball forward, running with the ball, reading the game. And how have you found it in training with Matt Grimes and Victor Torb and Josh Eccles, the other midfield players? How do you find you're managing that situation at the moment? It's good. I think we are all different type of players. We bring different qualities to the team. I think for me, it's just about getting in and setting in with the boys. And your experience, you're 28 now, so you're one of the older players in the squad. Is that helpful to help some of the younger guys in the group, do you think? I mean, there's also other guys here, but what I bring to the team is, like you said, is my experience. I try to bring my intensity, how to train and how to, you know, when I play. So I also try to bring that intensity into training. This is obviously a very big game on Monday. It's now second against first, Coventry have been top of the division for quite a long time. Now it's Middlesbrough. What are your thoughts on this as an occasion, a game to look forward to? It's a big game. I know Middlesbrough, they're good, they won the last game and they're top of the league. And for us, we're also, you know, doing everything we can to try and focus on the game, because obviously it's a big game and who wins, you know, who's still top. And for us, we're just, you know, focusing on ourselves and we know it's going to be a very intense game. So we're doing everything we can, we're training well to make sure we're ready for the game. And at AFCON, of course, you had a lot of experience with Nigeria very recently in getting to the third place playoff map. It has that kind of feel now towards the end of the season, some very big games. It's almost like tournament football. Would you describe it that way? The tournament football, I think it's different because we play every four days, every five days. There's no time to rest, there's no time to train. Why? Here it's quite different because sometimes you play every seven days. We have time to prepare and I think it's quite different compared to the tournament game. And of course, you'd signed just before the Oxford match. You got a very warm welcome when you were warming up. I know this is one of the substitutes on Saturday. How did you feel about the atmosphere inside the stadium at the weekend? I was quite pleased because it was over 30,000 people at the stadium and the warm welcome is something that I appreciate. I appreciate the fans and for me, I can't wait to give myself and do everything for this club and also for the fans.