Source: Eurosport
Lampard doesn't mind discipline
Frank Lampard is happy to go against his "natural game" to get the job done for England, even though he prefers to have more attacking freedom.The Chelsea midfielder was once again asked to played more of a disciplined role by manager Fabio Capello in the friendly against Slovakia at Wembley, while Steven Gerrard was freed up for extra forward duties roaming in from the left.The system, with Aston Villa's Gareth Barry also deployed in the centre, proved a winning combination once more as the visitors were swept aside 4-0.Lampard got on the scoresheet when netting England's third with eight minutes left, somewhat ironically after a tactical change had allowed him more freedom to attack.The 30-year-old, though, will continue to do whatever job is required of him by the England manager."I have been playing more of a disciplined role since Mr Capello has come in, and I do not mind that," he said."Although it is not my natural game, I try to do as well as I can for the team."But I won't lie - I did enjoy the last 20 minutes when I had a bit of freedom, which gave me the chance to get in the box a few more times."Hopefully now even from deeper I can still keep getting in goalscoring positions and help the team."Lampard believes Liverpool captain Gerrard - who was replaced at half-time - and man-of-the-match Rooney, the Manchester United forward, can prove a potent attacking partnership."They are both playing similar roles for their clubs at the moment, as the second striker, and there is no reason why they cannot interchange to do that for England," Lampard said."They will probably get better the more they do it, and it can be a huge weapon for us."Lampard felt the game against the Slovakians had proved a useful build-up to Wednesday night's World Cup qualifier against Ukraine."We had a great start and could have been two or three up, but then slowed down a bit," said Lampard."It is not always easy to keep momentum when you bring a lot of substitutes on, but the players who came on contributed and the very comfortable result gives us confidence for Wednesday."We have been training hard on certain things this week and you can't beat getting out there and playing as a group."The Slovakians are a similar side to Ukraine tactically, and so we can look at the things which we did not do quite as well and try to do those better."England lost strikers Carlton Cole and Emile Heskey to injuries, so Tottenham forward Darren Bent has been called up as cover.However, Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand should be available for Wednesday's game after scans on a groin injury which caused him to miss out against Slovakia revealed no damage.[LNB]
