When Players Were Asked About Frank Lampard

With 177 goals and 102 assists, Lampard boasts the highest goal contribution for any midfielder to ever play in the Premier League. I spent hours digging through clips, interviews from teammates, rivals and managers to find out just how good was Frank Lampard. I was probably like the second or third best kid in pretty much every team that I played in. I would look at my office at Chadwell Heath when I was at West Ham and 200 yards in the distance, raining, getting dark, four o'clock, winter's day, there'd be Frank, bag of balls, shooting left foot, right foot, left foot, picking the balls, going back again. The first time I ever saw him do it I called the groundsman and I said someone's over there, jumped over the fence, there's a nutter over there, running up and down. He went, no, it's young Frank. I've seen Frank train kind of day in, day out. I've seen Stevie train in England. These boys, you're talking about the best players in world football in their prime and wanting to be the best every single day, not just on a Saturday, but be the best, improve their game, work on their weaknesses. He was very different. I think he developed something with his abilities and he worked a lot in training on that, on the timing, arriving in the box and the shots outside of the box. And even though he was good, he was still looking to improve. All the ability in the world, elite player, age 28, 29, had everything, but wasn't happy with scoring 20 goals a season. As if that's not enough, he wanted to score 30. He wanted to break records and set records for the next generation to try. The way that, like I said, he was a midfielder that was scoring more than the strikers. And that's why he wanted it so bad. He used to go home and run around the streets at night, put a wetsuit on or dustbin line, go and have a run. Some players just couldn't comprehend Lampard's playing style. His numbers as a midfielder was unprecedented. Unheard of at that time. Frank. Frank, mate, was frightening. Underestimated for how much he can run a game. He's just known, even me going, oh, goal scorer. Nah, Frank run games. Trust me, Frank run games. He could pop. Frank was just a goal machine, goal scorer machine, just out of the box to box, goal scorer number eight. He could defend as well as anyone. Frank Lampard. I think people would call him Mr Chelsea. The amount of goals, the amount of assists, defending, going forward. He could just like dominate the game on his own. With the defending part of the game, the attacking part of the game, the amount of goals, like I said, assists. He won the Champions League. He won the Europa League. He won the whole lot with Chelsea. And from where he was, I remember playing against him at West Ham. And now the stadium was having a go at him. That day, because we beat them with Arsenal and the whole stadium was upset with him. When you work hard, you get your reward. And that's a great example. To a holding midfielder, he could do everything. But you've got to recognise also Lampard's goal scoring feats. It was unbelievable, you know how many seasons on the trot he would score 20 goals. Frank's different. Frank's... Machine. Just a goal scorer. It's weird. I think technically he's better than Frank. But he's winning goals almost every season. Not just the best English goal scoring midfield player, but probably the best ever goal scoring midfield player of any generation. His numbers were out of this world. He was probably at 11, 12, 13. I would never have guessed that he would become the great player that he did. Frank had to work so hard to where he got to. So that's the case of, you know, the nature nurture. You know, there's two elements there. He obviously had talent, of course. Knew the game, he'd studied it with his dad and his... Person, not so extra, how do you call it? Extrovert. Extroverted. But the best professional I have ever worked with is the player that trains better. More concentration, more commitment. Always focused on himself. Look at the record of Frank Lampard. I almost feel guilty calling him a midfielder, because midfielders shouldn't score that amount of goals when his team is in. He often got them out of it by producing, whether it's left foot or right foot, and just arriving into the box in the nick of time to get on the end of something. I mean, he was a scorer of spectacular goals. You know, because he's got everything that's needed to become a top class midfield player. His attitude, his first class, he's got strength, he can play, he can pass it and he can score goals. When you see Frank Lampard scoring a goal, that desire that they had in their eyes, when they scored that goal, it meant everything for them and for the club that they played for. Never happy about his performance. Always want to improve, always want to learn. If he does some skill in a game where he missed it, the next day in train he wants to stay one more hour doing the practice of exactly that situation. I remember he lost a goal once in a difficult volley with the left foot. The next day in training was one hour after training session practicing that volley with the left foot. Terrific attitude to want to improve himself. I was at West Ham with him when he was very young and I think his all-round game was, in the end, absolutely perfect from a field player. Frank, he just performed consistently. So week in, week out, year in, year out. I mean, his goals record speaks for itself. You could always count on him, not just with goals, but with assists as well in terms of his link-up play with Didier Drogba and top strikers. My favourite Premier League memory of Frank would have been when he broke the Chelsea record. The two goals, he'd come in on his left foot on the first one and put it in the top corner. And the second one, a typical Frank Lampard goal, ghosting into the box and putting the back of the net. But Frank's pathway was different, certainly, to Mo's because he had to really grind it out. He had to work hard, figured out what he was good at, which was obviously arriving in the box. Had an incredible engine. Dog is a bag of balls on his shoulder. Get a goalkeeper, practice him for 40, 50, 60 minutes every single day. Personally, I believe he's the best man we've ever had at Chelsea, at our football club. It's a fantastic goal from Frank Lampard. And I believe one of the best in world football. I mean, at one stage, come second to Ronaldinho, who is probably one of the best ever. Still on the hat-trick. Pascalou, Lampard. This is ridiculous. 150. They've all got great attributes. Do you know what I mean? Lampard's scoring 20 goals a season. Did well, you know. But I'm telling you now, and I may be now, I didn't want to say this in front of him, but he will go right to the very top. Right to the very top.