[Chelsea] Gerrard v Lampard: Under The Microscope

[Grahame Fendle]

From a Liverpool web site
http://www.thisisanfield.com/columnists0405.php?id=00000188

Gerrard v Lampard: Under The Microscope

In the red corner, we have Liverpool's captain and 'the complete
player', as acknowledged by many coaches, Steven Gerrard. In the blue
corner, we have 'the best player in the world', according to Jose
Mourinho, Frank Lampard. The million dollar question: Who is better?

Liverpool supporters will say it's Gerrard, the one in the pair who
has been crowned a European champion. Chelsea supporters will take
pains in pushing forward the case of Lampard, extolling his virtues
till the cows come home.

For what's it worth, I will tell you who's 'better'

When assessing anything, we have to find out it's purpose. Then we
have to decide to what extent the purpose is being carried out.

As Gerrard and Lampard are two of England's shining beacons in
midfield now, they must surely carry out their intentions well. The
'perfect' midfielder would be one who runs till his muscles ache, has
the fitness to allow him to resist that feeling for longer, be able to
pass well, shoot well, tackle well, read the game well, dribble
well…basically being an expert in all facets of the game.

As the midfielder is at the heart of the action, the more qualities he
possesses, the better. And if those qualities are laced with
supremacy, you have a world-class midfielder.

The beauty of these two luminaries is that they are so complete in the
footballing sense. Unlike David Beckham, who is seen as
one-dimensional, or Cristiano Ronaldo, who is fanciful dribbler with
many weaknesses, there are few weaknesses in Gerrard's and Lampard's
game.

But our mission is not to uncover the strengths of the two (although
they will be discussed), as they possess many, but the weaknesses, as
they are few.

The Chelsea man plays in a better midfield, has better wingers to
flank him, the world's best anchorman as his bodyguard, and arguably
better forwards to feed. All this makes the task easier.

Steven Gerrard, meanwhile, has not forged a proper midfield
partnership yet at his club, is sometimes played out of position, has
a lack of width surrounding him, and erratic strikers for him to
search out. And this means his task is comparatively harder.

It's important to consider that as a man has never won a football
match on his own since Diego Maradona led his country to World Cup
glory in 1986. Team-mates can often help a key man look better, or
worse than he actually is.

Now that we have considered the two teams both of them play in, it's
time to look at their individual abilities.

Ask any football coach what a midfielder must definitely possess, and
the answer will probably be a competent ability to pass the ball.

I will be a little controversial here by saying I think Frank Lampard
is the better passer. Simply because he is more consistent in his
level of delivery.

While Gerrard sometimes places too much weight in his passes and
over-hits them, Lampard is more often than not unerring in his
accuracy.

Because of this bad habit Gerrard has, sometimes his team-mates have
trouble killing the ball and bringing it under their control. Having
said that, his ability in passing the ball still surpasses many mere
mortals.

Consistency

Lampard has often been praised for his sometimes extraordinary
consistency levels. The consistency in which he keeps starting games
and the consistency in which he keeps the standard of his play high,
is what persuaded Mourinho to proclaim him the numero uno on the
planet.

Gerrard, on the other hand, has a dire record with injuries.
Metartasals, groins, ankles, calfs…he's got it all before in the
Liverpool shirt. When he's out of the team, the problems start for
Liverpool. When he's out, and Liverpool lose, Liverpool get branded a
one-man team. When he's out, and Liverpool win, there is talk that the
club can do without him.

Such is the status he has acquired, any injury that Gerrard sustains
becomes a Red crisis. And he does pick them up often.

This is where Lampard beats Gerrard hands down. If Gerrard is not
playing, he can't make any real contribution.

Late Bloomer

In many regards, Lampard is a late bloomer. When Gerrard was strutting
his stuff in the 2000 European Championships, Lampard was busy
captaining the Under-21 side in the 'junior' version of the
competition.

While Gerrard started his career at a club near the top, Lampard plied
his trade at West Ham, a club which in a few months, can turn from
challengers of a European spot, to relegation candidates.Even when he
came to Chelsea, Lampard started off slowly. Believe it or not, his
first goal for the club only came several months after he joined.

Both missed out on the 2002 World Cup, but while Gerrard was left out
because of injury reasons, Lampard was ignored because he simply
wasn't wanted in the final 22.

Then, in 2003/04, Lampard burst to life. Surely that had nothing to do
with Roman Abramovich and his roubles?

Anyway, now that Lampard had a better team around him, his potential
could be fulfilled. He went on to score 3 goals in 4 games at Euro
2004, and cemented his reputation as a top-class midfielder.

And then, what happened? In came the world's best manager, at the time
anyway. Mourinho had just led Porto to two European trophies in two
seasons, and he would make Lampard better.

Under the guidance of Mourinho, Lampard can now scale the Premiership
and European mountains with ease.

All this time has took chunks out of Lampard's career, however.
Lampard is now 27, and he has only really sprung to life from 2003 up
till now.

Gerrard, at two years younger, has been a fixture of the Liverpool
midfield for six years. And in 2001, while Lampard was toiling at West
Ham, he reveled in the glory of the Treble.

All this time at the forefront of the game has sharpened many of
Gerrard's edges. He is now an inspiring leader, something which
Lampard isn't yet.

Any talk of Beckham's successor to the England captaincy has Gerrard's
name, but rarely Lampard's.

Versatility is also an edge the Liverpool skipper has over Lampard. He
has played at central midfield, behind the strikers, right-back,
right-midfield, the holding role and even left-midfield all with
aplomb. Place him anywhere on the park, except between the posts, and
he will deliver.

Goals

Partly because of the constellation of stars surrounding him, and
partly because of his own ability, Lampard has a goal-scoring record
this season (and last) that a top-class striker would envy.

A forward like Thierry Henry would be proud of a record of 10 goals in
12 games. This underlines how much of a threat Lampard is, and how
well he has done.

Gerrard, on the other hand, playing in a poorer team, has amassed 2
goals in 8 games.

This, of course, is discounting Gerrard's account in the Champions'
League qualifiers. If we include those, then the tally becomes more
impressive – 9 in 14.

At the moment, it's fair to say though is Lampard is much more of a
consistent goal-threat.

The Verdict

So Lampard is more consistent, and he's scored more goals in the past
two seasons. Gerrard is younger and yet more experienced.

All Gerrard needs to do is to cut out his niggling habits and niggling
injuries, and he will be a level higher than Lampard.

At the moment, Lampard is just edging it. But as we have seen, careers
are like football matches – the picture at the 90th minute is not
often the same as it was on the 48th.