Chelsea Football Club News

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Lamps enjoys Zagreb victory

12 Sep 2008 - 07:48:37

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Chelsea's England midfielder Frank Lampard has admitted that the 4-1 victory in Croatia has brought a much-needed confidence boost to the national team set-up.

Lampard and his colleagues have been under heavy pressure to perform since their failure to make last summer's European Championship finals, but they answered their critics in style with a superb display in Zagreb.

"After not qualifying for the Euros you do doubt yourself and there was a lot of doubt from all over the place," Lampard admitted.

"As a footballer you always have those moments, as a player and as a team. Top players react to that in a positive way and this was the start of the reaction. We want to get to a World Cup and do well.

"This isn't the be all and end all, but it has sent out a message that we mean business. It is a marker to show what we can do.

"We haven't performed the last two years as a group, I think every player will admit that and now it's time to regain that confidence.

"It's a great platform because Croatia are one of our main rivals and we have beaten them away.

"To have six points from our first two matches is as much as we could have asked for, but to perform the way we did and show what we can do was even better."