Who did he get them against?
What is that stat about him having more shots than anyone else at W Cups without a goal resulting?

Here it is:

He had 24 shots on goal in the tournament, 10 of which were on target, but failed to score a single goal.

Didn't he also miss a pen in the dreaded shoot-out?

Not to be pedantic, but you mean the gentle retaliatory flick from his prone position, having been put on the ground by Simeone's foul when he clattered into Beckham from behind; a far worse offence that he then compounded with simulation and only received a yellow card.

Yes...his shooting in 2006 was absolutely awful.

Of course. I was just making the point that other players are able to boost their goals totals by taking free kicks while Lampard didn't have that advantage.

77 internationals would have included a fair mix of teams of all quality.

One tournament. Five games. What about the other 72?

Obviously other factors are important in assessing midfield players. But Lampard (as with Gerrard) is known as a midfield player who contributes goals. He's not known for ball winning abilities, clever flicks, defence splitting passes or anything like that. Over simplifying, perhaps, but his game is about stamina and contributing goals.

In that respect his contribution for England compares very favourably with Chelsea. Take into account that Chelsea is more successful than England and his contribution to England actually looks a little better.

Yes- you are totally right.

But still his red card made life for England very difficult in that match and in the context of my post was in my eyes a harder thing to forgive than Aaron Lennon's miss against Portugal when only 17 years old.

My point is you can not write off a footballer based on a single pitch incident in their early career.

Although rightly or wrongly it does happen.

Frank Lampard was excellent in 2004 in his first major tournament- as was Rooney.

Probably the most dissapointing England player of the last 10 years has been Steven Gerrard- a player who has often taken Liverpool game's by the scruff of the neck. It's difficult to find many performance's of that magnitude for England.

Both Gerrard and Lampard should still be in the squad as they are still excellent players.

I agree with the comment earlier that Hargreaves would be a great addition but only if he can hit the standard he hit last time out. Having watched Ledley King over the years- knee injuries really kill a player. Both Hargreaves and King would have easily won 50+ England caps with better knees.

I like talking about knee injuries as they finished my career in the Aldershot and Hants Sunday Division 2 or was it 3?

I wonder if we should have a seperate World Cup Run Up thread to the EPL thread??? Mainly because both are such magnificent talking points at the mo. Novo you are in charge- what do you think?

Or even a few early performances. Look at how important Fletcher is to ManU now.

I assume subscribers to this thread watched the big game yesterday - which Man U players (if any) played anything like decent? (I only caught bits of the match due to the earlier kick-off time).

Yes, I watched the big game. Peterborough 2-3 Toon.

Apart from being a one man team, what will happen to Man. U. when Ferguson retires? The club is in dire financial straights as the Glaziers use it as an ATM and their only option for buying is to most likely sell Rooney.

I watched it

Confidence seemed a little low. I'm not sure Fergie's comments about Chelsea being favourites now will lift them...so I imagine Fergie being the excellent man-manager he is will have said something entirely different privately so they will be in a more positive frame of mind on Wednesday.

Have I mentioned that Toon are likely to be promoted this season?

If they can eek out a point against Sheffield Utd at St. James' on Monday it's a done deal.

OTOH if they lose the last 6 games 0-2 and Forest win their 5 left 3-0 every time, then Toon would have to do the playoffs.

This is so improbable that (being Toon) it's a racing certainty to happen.

<no hex no hex no hex>

Forest play Cardiff 2.5 hours before the Newcastle match. Could be a done deal before the game at St. James' even begins.

You probably know this.

On the FL Show Clem was standing outside the ground with his abacus. Buffoon. Is it really that complicated? They are up. End of.