John Terry tells the critics to lay off Frank Lampard

11 April 2012

John Terry today leapt to the defence of Frank Lampard, insisting his Chelsea colleague still has a massive role to play for club and country.

Lampard was surprisingly substituted at half-time by England coach Fabio Capello in the 2-2 draw with Switzerland at Wembley on Saturday.

It has prompted a lot of speculation that the Chelsea midfielder, who turns 33 in two weeks' time, is now facing an uncertain future at international level even though he scored his 22nd goal for England from the penalty spot before being replaced by Ashley Young.

Lampard's form for Chelsea has also come under scrutiny since returning from a groin and hernia injury last December. The injury kept him on the sidelines for nearly four months but he still finished the season having scored 13 goals for the club.

Terry (below) admits he is bemused why anyone is questioning Lampard and is in no doubt he will prove a lot of people wrong next season.
He told Standard Sport: "Frank can still make a massive contribution to England and Chelsea. I think sometimes with the work rate he gets through and the quality of player he is, he gets taken for granted.

"When he doesn't do it for one or two games people jump on the bandwagon. When he does it consistently well for 20-30 games, people don't appreciate him for what he's doing. It's just 'Frank has scored again' and that's it. People are quick to criticise but on a weekly basis he is the most consistent player I have seen in my career at Chelsea. I have seen nothing to make me think any differently and am sure he will have another good season next year, hopefully with no injuries."

The former West Ham midfielder looked furious as he left Wembley after the Euro 2012 qualifier and when asked for his reaction to Capello's decision to take his Chelsea team-mate off, Terry replied: "Listen, that is one for the manager. Frank obviously did well. He can answer that better than me."

The Italian coach maintained it was for tactical reasons and added: "When Frank Lampard is fresh, he is a really important player.

"He has a big personality on the pitch and he scores goals. When he is in a good moment of form, he is a good player for us.

"He has played a lot of games. I saw him and he was not fresh like the other players. I decided to make a change because of this."

Lampard is not the only senior player seething at Capello's treatment after striker Peter Crouch was left out of the squad altogether despite declaring himself fit to play.

It has been reported that the Tottenham striker is considering retiring from international football but he is expected to make himself available for the friendly against Holland at Wembley in August.

England will be under considerable pressure to win that match for they have now gone four games without a victory at Wembley and midfielder James Milner admits they don't want that poor run to continue.

He added: "At Wembley we need to make sure we get the wins. At the moment it has not quite happened so we have just got to make sure we don't let it become an issue and hopefully get a win against Holland.

"Qualification is still in our hands. We will play our hearts out. We'll have a rest now, then we can come back and try to improve again. We are more than capable of beating anybody on our day. We have got to make sure we learn from our mistakes against Switzerland."

England are still top of their qualifying group on goal difference because Montenegro could only draw with Bulgaria but they still have to play both of them away from home as well as a match against Wales at Wembley.

Switzerland and former West Ham midfielder Valon Behrami insists England will have to play a lot better if they are to qualify for Euro 2012.

He said: "We were surprised because the last two games against England we did not have this feeling, the confidence that we could win.

"England need everyone on the team to give 100 per cent every time, that is when England are a world-class team.

"But some of the players were really tired and didn't give 100 cent."

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