England News

• Nickname:Three Lions
• Founded: 1872
• Manager:Roy Hodgson

• Ground:Wembley Stadium
• Capacity:90,000

Lampard wants Rio support

13 Oct 2009 - 07:27:25

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Frank Lampard has called on England fans to get behind Rio Ferdinand following the recent criticism he has received.

The Manchester United defender's mistake allowed Ukraine to score the only goal of the game as England lost a first competitive match under Fabio Capello in Saturday's World Cup qualifier.

But despite his patchy form for club and country of late, Chelsea midfielder Lampard claims that Ferdinand is still a world-class player.

"Rio's consistency, along with John (Terry), in the last four or five years puts them right with the top centre-halves in the world," he said.

"That's not bias. I think if you ask anyone in Europe about those two they would say the same thing.

"I think it's unfortunate now that there always seems to be one player or a couple of players taking stick. It doesn't have to be like that, I think we have to get behind our big players.

"Everyone in the squad is behind him, the manager is. It's a couple of little mistakes.

"Rio's been fantastic for such a long time. When the big games come, you know you need your big players and Rio will certainly deliver then."

Meanwhile, Lampard believes the England squad could benefit from the absence of Wayne Rooney with a calf injury in Wednesday's game against Belarus.

He added: "He's obviously a good player, he's been in fantastic form. He's been the player of our campaign for sure, but it's quite nice for us to have to get along without him.

"There are other good players waiting for a chance. If we can see other players coming through then it's a good thing for us."