Lampard and Gerrard - The tale of two legends

Chelsea and Liverpool, two of the biggest clubs in England, have something similar in them, which was not known till about some 5-6 years ago. The two clubs can boast about having one of footballing world’s greatest midfielders in their respective sides. Chelsea have the services of Frank Lampard, the talisman for the Blues, and the vice- captain for the England national team. And the Merseyside Reds have the services of Steven Gerrard, captain of the England national team and one of the best midfielders to ever stepped on the pitch.

Several football analysts have debated about the greatness of both these players, but have less often come to a conclusion as to who is greater. There is seemingly much to debate about, and so here I am stating the facts and its all for you to decide, after reading the article as to who is more successful.

1)Club Loyalty:Steven Gerrard joined the Liverpool Academy at the age of nine. Gerrard then had trials with various clubs at fourteen, but his success wasn’t immediate. He made his first team start for Liverpool FC in the 1998-1999 season and went on to show his loyalty for the club having recently completed 600 appearances for the club. There have been offers for him from Real Madrid( 205 k per week) and Chelsea( 180 k per week), still he chose to stay with Liverpool(105 k per week) thus proving his loyalty and winning a permanent place in the hearts of the Liverpool fans.

Lampard, on the other hand, started his career with the rather low-profile West Ham United. He began his career at his father’s former club, joining the youth team in 1994. He had a loan stint at Swansea before he signed for Chelsea in the year 2001. He has since stayed there and shown his loyalty pretty fairly, albeit some would argue that he had the world’s best services, the chosen one as his manager and a high spending owner at his service, it was tough for one to leave the club. However, joining the ranks of Chelsea in the year 2001 when the club had won only one EPL title in 100 years, and even after achieving success of the back-to-back Premier League titles, it was only last year they won the Champions League. Any high-profile player of his likes could have left for a more successful club for winning Europe’s most prestigious trophy but he chose to stay at his club instead thus making him a legend in the eyes of every Chelsea fan.

2)Goals and assists:

This is a stat extracted from Wikipedia, stating all the goals scored and assists provided by both the players, for the first team squad. First I would like to share the stats for the club career and then international.Frank Lampard:(CLUB)Appearances : 572Goals Scored : 189Assists Provided : 120(NATIONAL)Appearances : 93Goals Scored : 26Steven Gerrard: (CLUB)Appearances : 600Goals Scored : 151Assists Provided : 88(NATIONAL)Appearances : 99Goals Scored : 19

Here we see there are similar stats but Lampard edges past Gerrard in goals scored and has quite a few more assists. One can argue that Lampard had the privilege of playing with players in great form in Chelsea whereas Gerrard had to play with the worst Liverpool 11 up to date in the last few seasons.

3)Achievements:Here’s stating the trophies won by the respective players in their playing career :

Gerrard: Total : 10

Trophies :Champions League (1): 2005UEFA Cup (1): 2000-01FA Cup (2): 2001-02,2005-06League Cup (2): 2000-01,2002-03FA Community Shield (2): 2001,2006UEFA Super Cup (2): 2001, 2005

Lampard: Total : 12

Trophies :Champions League (1): 2012UEFA Cup (1): 1999Premier League (3): 2004–05, 2005–06, 2009–10FA Cup (3): 2007, 2009, 2010League Cup (2): 2005, 2007FA Community Shield (2): 2005, 2009

So trophy-wise, these two footballing greats have won enough, but the topic to debate about is that Gerrard has never won a single Premier League trophy in his career, which might come back to haunt him someday. He has stated he would love to win one for Liverpool before he hangs up his boots, but with the likes of Manchester clubs and Chelsea in title contention, only a miracle can see Gerrard’s dream fulfilled.

4) Quote unquote :Much to say about football, legends are made by appreciation. When one of footballing world’s greats appreciates you, the whole world turns to you. It makes you great. You and me and every other football fan knows that it would definitely feel better to hear some legend appreciating you rather than winning back to back titles. It gives you that feeling of having achieved something, of accomplishing something great. And that feeling is undoubtedly the best. Lets see what the footballing greats had to say about these two playmakers:

Gerrard:1) To me he is one of the super best midfielders in the world. He is an excellent player- Pele2) He has become the most influential player in England, bar none. Not that Vieira lacks anything, but Gerrard does more- Alex Ferguson3) Is he the best in the world? He might not get the attention of (Lionel) Messi and Ronaldo but yes, I think he just might be.If you don’t have a player like Steven Gerrard, who is the engine room, it can affect the whole team.When we were winning league titles and European Cups at Real, I always said Claude Makelele was our most important player. There is no way myself, (Luis) Figo or Raul would have been able to do what we did without Claude and the same goes for Liverpool and Gerrard. He has great passing ability, can tackle and scores goals, but most importantly he gives the players around him confidence and belief. You can’t learn that — players like him are just born with that presence. – Zidane.Lampard:1) Lamps is Lamps. When he plays well he is best in the game, when he plays bad, he is the second or the third best. - Jose Mourinho2) What a player. What a man. What an absolute diamond of a footballer. The critics, the haters, they cannot touch Frank Lampard now. Not after last night. Not after that penalty. He won, they lost. He stood tall, they skulked in the background. - Martin Samuel3) If you’d asked me seven or eight years ago I would have said I wasn’t Frank Lampard’s biggest fan. But his all-round game has improved massively. He’s had to work at his game. I don’t think he’s been naturally the most gifted player in the world. From what I hear he’s a good one to practise and he’s improved to be one of the best midfielders in the world. Credit to him for that. He’s more of an all-round package now than he was at West Ham when he was probably carrying too much weight, not that he was fat. His goals record is unbelievable, just like Steven Gerrard and Paul Scholes. We see a lot of players who come on the scene and just fade away. But he seems as hungry as ever and plays lots of games. He looks after his body. He’s a fit lad and when you’ve got a midfielder who can put the ball in the back of the net it’s bloody priceless. When you look at him and Gerrard, by God, Fabio Capello’s a lucky man to have two such outstanding players. The hallmark of a top player is not to do it over two years but over eight or nine. - Roy Keane

We see that in terms of respect gained in the footballing world, Gerrard has definitely achieved more. But it stays undisputed, that Lamps and Gerrard are two of England’s finest playmakers. There are various grounds for argument stating that Lampard is a more attacking midfielder and hence he scores more goals. But all this apart, you, me and every other true football fanatic are definitely blessed to see the likes of such great footballing players play and we can gladly say to our future generations,” I have seen Lampard and Gerrard play.”

I would like to thank my friend and a true Liverpool fan Shoubhik Pakrasi for helping and providing me with all the analysis and stats about Gerrard. Thanks bro. Without you this wouldn’t be possible.

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