‘The truth is…’ – Chelsea icon Frank Lampard opens up on England frustration & gives advice to 2026 World Cup hopefuls
FRANK LAMPARD has told England’s players that silence is golden if they want to earn a World Cup spot.
The former Three Lions great is advising Thomas Tuchel’s latest squad that mum’s the word when it comes to the German’s team selection.
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The Three Lions’ chief has an array of attacking talent at his disposal and Lampard, who spent the majority of his 106-cap international career being shoehorned into a midfield with Steven Gerrard and Paul Scholes, knows all about compromise.
And he suggested that keeping schtum worked for him — as he went on to score 29 international goals and played in three World Cups and one European Championship as part of the ‘golden generation’.
He said: “I just got on with it. You’re a professional, you get on with it — you are playing different ways, you respect the manager and you crack on. You can have your own opinions — but I tended to keep mine to myself and think about what could I do best if I was asked to play.
“The truth is, I never really played for England much like I played for Chelsea.
“There were times, like in 2004, when Sven-Goran Eriksson was there when I played at the top of a diamond — that wasn’t my ideal, either — but if you are representing your country and the manager’s got an idea, you just go with it.
“That was my story and it’s been documented and people talk about it many years later with a different view to how it felt at the time,
“They just sort of say, ‘It did work or it didn’t work’. Sometimes it did, sometimes it didn’t. But I’m not interested in that conversation.
“Personally, I got on with it, as did Stevie and Scholesy.”
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Lampard is in a unique position to comment now he has crossed over to frontline management.
His Coventry side are sitting top of the Championship this season, having scored an impressive 27 goals this season as he attempts to orchestrate a return to the Premier League.
He believes that times may have changed and that Tuchel might operate a more relaxed policy.
The German has plenty of options up front — all of whom will make a claim to start alongside skipper Harry Kane.
Bukayo Saka, Anthony Gordon, Eberechi Eze, Jarrod Bowen, Marcus Rashford and Ollie Watkins were all in the squad for the double header against Wales and Latvia.
But the likes of Jude Bellingham, Cole Palmer, Phil Foden and Jack Grealish will all be wanting to board the plane to North America for the World Cup next summer.
There are only so many places in Tuchel’s starting XI — and Lampard added: “Now I’m a manager, I understand selection difficulties.
“I’ve had big squads at Chelsea. When I was first there, I went back and they had the 29 players — of which some were disgruntled — that’s another story.
“But in terms of trying to fit players in, you have to make tough decisions as a manager — you have ideas, you have to work with the squad you’ve got and think, ‘What is the best?’ So that’s why I never really comment on what decisions other managers take because I don’t know the context, what they’re thinking and who and how they want to play.
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“However, I do think it’s more common in the modern day for a conversation to be more open between player and manager.
“It goes manager by manager – some don’t want to talk and say, “This is the team, I’m the boss, you get on with it.’
“There are those who will have individual conversations, and then other people will open up to the group. That all depends on who’s in charge. And players react differently.
“I think there’s a balance to it. I think the players have to feel your authority and believe in what you’re doing.
“It’s not always an open conversation. Our job is to get that bit right. And our job is to be like that.
“But as a manager also, you want to have constant communication in that players feel that they can speak to you because you might find something that you didn’t know.
‘A DIFFERENT ANIMAL’
“England’s a bit of a different animal because you only turn up every now and again.
“At Chelsea, sometimes you’re playing at the weekend and through the week, and you’re training every day and the conversations are there throughout the year much more.” One chat with a great former Chelsea manager sticks in Lampard’s mind.
He added: “I remember once having a conversation with Carlo Ancelotti about my position at Chelsea when he played a diamond formation.
“It didn’t feel really fluid, not just for me, but for the team.
“That was one of the beauties of Carlo, he would be very open with that chat and I’m not saying he changed his mind, but he was taking on information and then adapting around it.
“That’s why he’s one of the greatest managers, that’s his style — I think those things should be authentic.
“If you want to do your thing and you stick to your guns, you may succeed or you may fail, that’s what you do. That’s one person’s approach.
“I am more open with my players to try to speak to them, because I want to get better. So every conversation I have with a player may help me, whether I agree with it or not.”
“In the end, the decision is mine — and then hopefully it works.”
