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Originally Posted by kyan
but at a different club with a different system would he be the same? I seriously doubt it, and that's enforced by his lacklustre performances for England for the last 2 years.
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I don't put much stock in International football. Let's be honest, nobody has shone for England (Joe Cole maybe?) and if England were a club side, they might struggle to make the top 10 of most top leagues with their terrible management. I think the point you're trying to make is that the system at Chelsea is the cause of Lampard's great production. That simply isn't the case (or it is a glib interpretation at best).
Any midfielder in the world would love to have a forward like Drogba to play with; he can turn bad passes and long punts into opportunities for himself or others. So as far as stats go Drogba has helped Lampard, but no more and probably less than Lampard has helped Drogba. The reality is that Lampard has been given the regular duties of any central midfielder (arguably more defensive than most) whilst playing on the left hand side of a triangle. This past season in the diamond he's been moving across the field more, but had more defending to do in general. What makes him special is his massive runs from deep, perfectly timed to get in on goalscoring opportunities. He almost defies his position to be able to give himself a chance, but has the ability to recover into his defensive role without conceding possession or space. That is what makes Mourinho gaga over him. That is what would translate to any club in the world. As far as England is concerned Lampard has gotten himself into more scoring opportunities than anyone else, he's just had a terrible time finishing. But it's not like any other player is confident for England atm. At the very least Lampard still rarely gives the ball away easily and his passing and tackling accuracy is still the best in the side.
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may mean more space is freed up for Mikel or Essien to start going forward, Mikel plays more advanced for Nigeria and Essien was quite attacking at Lyon...
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Well that's just doing Lampard a dis-service. There is no doubt at all that Lampard strikes the ball consistently better than either of those two players. He has more of an eye for goal and much better instincts for getting into position. He's more skilfull inside the box (his prototype size helps him out in that respect) and he's more reliable outside of it. If we lose Lampard there simply isn't an adequate replacement in world football...the closest would be Gerrard and he lacks the discipline or consistency of Frank's production.
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And Ballack may have more freedom and u may see Chelsea getting more out of him as well. Or alternatively with one less CM (and one less untouchable) you could accomodate a winger with 2 strikers sometimes...
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We've seen close to the best of Ballack in a blue shirt. He no longer has the energy we saw in 2002, although he is a solid, experienced and valuable veteran. We will see more attackers next season if they remain fit and in form...we didn't play 4 central midfielders out of preference, it was almost always what we were left with because our best winger, Robben, was injured half the season, his deputy Joe was out for the whole season and SWP is a completely unreliable starter.
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