Free Live Odds - Scores and Odds - Sports News - Sports Information - Live Scores - Sports Statistics - Sports Articles - Sports Standings - Live Scor

O&N HOME | NFL MLB NBA NHL NCAAF NCAABk Nascar Golf Soccer Tennis Boxing Horse Racing All Sports

SOCCER-ENGLAND Home | Live Odds | Scoreboard | Standings |

England's Lampard brushes off criticism

Tue 7th, October 2008

London, England (Sports Network) - England midfielder Frank Lampard thinks the team performance is much more important than his much-criticised partnership with Steven Gerrard.

Coach Fabio Capello is reportedly set to pair the two central midfielders together again when England takes on Kazakhstan in Saturday's World Cup qualifier at Wembley.

The duo have struggled to recapture their impressive club form when playing alongside each other at international level, but Lampard insists the issue is not on the minds of either player in the build-up to an important game.

Liverpool skipper Gerrard was absent through injury when England secured a 4-1 qualifying victory over group favorites Croatia in Zagreb last month.

"It's very important to talk about the team - we can look into the wrong issues," claimed Lampard. "We're breaking it down much too much. I'm not trying to find issues with certain players. We haven't really done quite what we could do over the last couple of years.

"We've been playing at a high level for our clubs and people expect the same for England and it doesn't always happen.

"But the Croatia performance shows that when we play as a team that is what is important.

"The manager is focused on that very much. The manager will pick the team and the players are there to play as a group. If you look too much into things you can find problems."

(Courtesy of sportbox.tv)