FOOTBALL
WE NEED OLD SPARK BACK SAYS LAMPARD
CHELSEA BOOT: Lampard knows his side must find their former consistency
By Tony Banks
FRANK LAMPARD has warned Chelsea they must rediscover the never-say-die spirit that won them the Premier League title three years ago – before it is too late.
Despite a double strike from the inspirational Lampard at Fulham on Sunday, Chelsea carelessly squandered two more -precious points in the battle for the title after Clint Dempsey’s last-minute goal secured a 2-2 draw for the Cottagers.
The result left Chelsea manager Luiz Felipe Scolari raging at his defence and referee Andre Marriner – but he pointedly picked out Lampard as the example he wants all his players to -follow in the coming months if the title is to be regained.
Lampard, captain in place of the suspended John Terry, was far and away Chelsea’s best player on the day.
“Frank is a man who never accepts defeat,” said Scolari. “He scored two goals again and he works more chances than any other player. He played very, very well.”
Unfortunately for Scolari the same attention to detail was not evident at the back as Lampard’s best efforts were undone by poor set-piece defending that allowed Dempsey to score twice.
The draw means Scolari’s team have managed to collect only 10 points from the last 21 and have won just two of their last seven games.
That is a long way from title-winning form – and a run which has raised -questions about Scolari and his methods, six months into his reign.
His manager’s praise was -significant but Lampard himself still believes Chelsea can be champions again if they can bottle the spirit that brought them two titles under Jose Mourinho in 2005 and 2006.
They head into 2009 three points behind pace-setters Liverpool and have three away games coming up that could well decide their destiny.
They visit Manchester United on January 11, then go to leaders Liverpool, and finally Aston Villa.
Lampard said: “You can only win titles with that never-say-die -attitude in your team. That is what Chelsea is all about. We’ve had it for the last few years and it’s still in there somewhere – but we definitely need more consistency.
“We’ve had very poor results against the big teams so far this season, but we’re still right in the mix.
“There are two sides to it: you want to go to places like United and get results, and we’re certainly capable of doing that. But we also need to do the same at places like Fulham because that is what the other sides up there do.
“We haven’t lost confidence that we can win the title. There are only three points between us and Liverpool, and we’ve got a very good squad.
“It was frustrating at Fulham because of the -way we conceded a last-minute goal. But we will go to Manchester United next week believing we can win the game.”
Immediately following the Villa game comes the Champions League knockout showdown with Juventus and former Chelsea manager Claudio Ranieri. It will be a -critical nine weeks for Scolari, who still hopes to have at least one new face in his squad by then.
Scolari, though, has -several major problems to solve as he prepares to -welcome in a new year.
Among them are what is to be done about the -woefully out-of-sorts Deco and how to shore up a defence which is suddenly more leaky than ever, although the return of Ricardo Carvalho will help on that front as will that of Terry after the FA Cup third-round game with Southend on Saturday.
Lampard said: “It is a collective thing, we all have to make sure we do our jobs.”
One pleasing aspect for the midfielder – and almost certainly a crucial one for Chelsea in the coming weeks – is Lampard’s -rediscovery of his goal touch.
He has scored three goals in his last two games after a 10-match barren spell and has 11 in all competitions to date.
Lampard said: “I always try to get towards double figures around Christmas. I’m over my little dry patch and now I just want the goals to keep coming.”
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