Imagine if there was an award in English football for the best player in a given season and not some inside union job picked in mid-August or March at the very latest given to Ryan Giggs instead of a gold watch or Steven Gerard instead of a real trophy. The season being over now and having taken some time for reflection, I think that such an award if it existed would be given to Frank Lampard for the 2008/09 season.
Lampard deserves it for simply being the best footballer over the course of the season. It's a pity that he only has the FA Cup to show for his efforts but unfortunately it looks like this Chelsea team are turning into football's nearly men and by implication Lampard too looks like he might be overlooked when people look back on the truly great players of this generation.
Frank Lampard possesses all the characteristics the world admires in English. He is of course honest and hard working but he also plays every game without fuss. He seems to fully appreciate how great it must be to be a professional footballer and he plays every game as if it's just what professional footballers do. It's a shame you can't say that about all of them.
He is also the scorer of great goals usually numbering about 20 a season which isn't bad going for a midfielder. In some ways his reputation has fallen victim to the general dislike of the English fans and media (who brainwashed who I wonder?) for players who don't spend the 90 minutes running around after the ball as though the professional game were the equivalent of an under 10's game.
Lampard has been Bergkampesque this season and deserves his place among the greats of the modern game. He has been outstanding when it counted in particular against Liverpool in the Champions League but then maybe that's always the way Lampard has been.
For a blue blood of football's royalty, Frank hasn't always had the easiest of times. We've all called him Fat Frank at one time or another or said that he was useless and overrated. He survived the sweeping changes of the Abromovich era when it looked like an entirely new Chelsea squad of superstars would be assembled. If anything Lampard's importance to Chelsea has grown in the last 5 years. He and John Terry set the tone for new arrivals. They are the examples whose lead must be followed to maintain the standards set at the club.
He became an better player under Jose Mourinho and not in the way that Damien Duff became a more "rounded" better player i.e. a left full, he simply improved while retaining position and his strengths. He is a supporter of the Conservative Party which I presume means he can think for himself while his performance on the radio recently tearing some talk show host a new one (not me unfortunately) over interference with his personal affairs showed a man you would follow into battle.
Lampard is a leader and has consistently shown himself to be a great player. He is the rightful Player of the Year this season (at least Chelsea fan's acknowledged it) and who knows maybe next season he'll get the Champions League and a World Cup to go along with it. I certainly wouldn't begrudge him.
No comments:
Post a Comment