Would Duffer play left wing in the best....

[Stuttgart88]

You gotta hand it to Lampard though Eirebhoy - for a midfielder his finishing is superb. But if you look at Duff's goal input in the winter nearly every goal he got was the first goal whereas a lot of Lampard's were the 3rd or 4th. I used to slate Lampard but I've had to acknowledge his improvement. Chelsea make up for the lack of a genuine goalscorer upfront by scoring a lot of goals from midfield, wingers & set pieces. If only Ireland could get more goals from midfield.

(Edit: I might add about Lampard that in several games, most notably Portsmouth at home, Lampard was careless in the extreme & only poor finishing let hiom off the hook)

There seems to be a lot of Shaun W-P to Chelsea talk at the moment.

Thankfully, when it really mattered both Lampard & Joe Cole fell short of the standard required. Hopefully the same will apply in WC06, which they've officially already qualified for according to the British press, despite having a home game against the group leaders and two tricky away derby matches to overcome. In fact on paper we probably have an easier remaining route to Germany. Poland are bang in form, France are woefully out of sorts. I'd rather have Switzerland at home than Wales away if I was English.

[eirebhoy]

You gotta hand it to Lampard though Eirebhoy - for a midfielder his finishing is superb. But if you look at Duff's goal input in the winter nearly every goal he got was the first goal whereas a lot of Lampard's were the 3rd or 4th. I used to slate Lampard but I've had to acknowledge his improvement. Chelsea make up for the lack of a genuine goalscorer upfront by scoring a lot of goals from midfield, wingers & set pieces. If only Ireland could get more goals from midfield.

If you asked someone why Lampard beat Henry in the player awards even though Henry scored double the amount of goals and got the same amount of assists. They would tell you that Lampard is a midfielder while Henry is a striker. Lampard for most of the season had it easier than Henry. Henry would be marked for 90 minutes while Lampard could stand in open space. I have studied Lampard's game. He stands around, even when the opposition was close to him he expects someone else to get it. Tiago got dropped and Chelsea played with Lampard-Makelele in midfield. Lampard did a lot off the ball, he wasn't letting players by him. He hadn't got too many shots on goal but Sky described him as "not at his best". Lampard gets a goal and he's a bloody great player. Nonsense. He has fabulous technique but so does Henry who wasn't close to getting player of the year.

[Stuttgart88]

Hey, all I said was that you've got to admit his finishing is superb!

I'd pay no attention to Player of the Year. Lampard & Joe Cole took Chelsea over the finishing line when most of the hard work was done but it was Robben, Duff and Cech that were the outstanding individuals in taking charge of the league in the first place. Your performances count double when you're English. All I heard since February / March on SKY was "Lampard this / Terry that" forgetting the impact people like Robben made.

It made me mad when Rooney won YPLOTY in his first season. He only played about 12 games, not even full games, whereas John O'Shea played nearly the whole season at left back in MUFC's league winning year. Admittedly the two's fortunes have contrasted markedly since but Rooney's award was a scandal.

[carnstien]

It made me mad when Rooney won YPLOTY in his first season. He only played about 12 games, not even full games, whereas John O'Shea played nearly the whole season at left back in MUFC's league winning year. Admittedly the two's fortunes have contrasted markedly since but Rooney's award was a scandal.

Didn't Jermaine Jenas win the award that year? Rooney came second and O'Shea third.

[Slash/ED]

Even worse if so. Hugely over rated player is Jenas.