Frank Lampard: The Organizer

Chelsea’s all-time second highest goalscorer, only three shy of first, was rested for Thursday night’s Europa League second leg against Sparta Praha and rightly so. Except the Sparta game, he has plied his services for the team in every game in 2013. And keeping the Manchester City game in mind, he was rested. But his presence on the pitch was vastly missed in that Sparta game.

If you watch Chelsea’s games regularly, you would have no choice but to accept that Frank is our midfield maestro. There are many qualities that single him out. His passing, positioning and timing is just fascinating. It’s true that the likes of Hazard and Mata are more talented and skilled, but no one is better than Lampard when it comes to leadership qualities and character. Frank is the organiser of our whole team. He not only positions himself at the right place on the pitch, but tells others where to be and what to do. If you observe him closely while he plays, you would notice that he is always looking at the entire field at all times. He scans the whole pitch and then calls on to others and tells them where to be. In football, we see players makes mistakes while positioning themselves and failing to decide what to do in certain situations. That is why, what we see in Frank is rather special.

It was obvious that our midfield was a mess in major parts of the game against Sparta Praha. The opponents were dictating the midfield and were making slick passes only because our players’ positioning in certain situations was not good enough. Now don’t get me wrong here. I’m not implying that the rest of our squad is inferior. What I am implying is that Frank is better in guiding our team because of his experience and if Frank is on the pitch, it is a major advantage for the other players because he always tells everyone what to do. He is the manager on the pitch. Many coaches and footballing experts have praised Frank for this quality. This is a very unique characteristic in him. This may be his last season at Chelsea, and if we lose him, it would be a great loss for us. And if he joins some other Premier League team, it would be an even greater loss because that team would gain what we had lost and we will have to play against him. Now, I’d never want to see that happen.

Nevertheless, Frank is a man who is destined for greatness. If we sell him, he deserves to be in a good team. He is just three goals short of being Chelsea’s all-time highest goalscorer. I wish he achieves that honour and it turns out to be a good thing for him and for the club.