Frank Lampard's verdict on Wayne Rooney as England legends set for Boxing Day battle
Frank Lampard is looking forward to pitting his tactical wits against former England teammate Wayne Rooney when Coventry City welcome Plymouth Argyle to the CBS Arena on Boxing Day.
Neutrals will be interested in the battle between the Three Lions’ legends as the pair go head to head for the first time in the dugout since hanging up their boots and opting to extend their football careers in management.
“Yeah, I’m looking forward to it,” said the Sky Blues boss. “I know Wayne well, for many years now, obviously, and he’s working there with the team and they’ve had some good performances and maybe haven’t got what they feel like they deserve, that’s for sure. I think we probably all feel like that sometimes. But yeah, I have full respect for him and I look forward to seeing him.”
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Both played over 100 games for their country, with their international careers crossing for 11 years between 2003 and 2014. Reflecting on their England time together, Lampard said: “Yeah, and what an absolute pleasure it was to play with him for England, and against him. He was a Premier League great in England. His numbers and performances should never be understated because the level of player he was, was incredible.
“And to see the work ethic behind it, that he had as a player, and to see the impact he had on teammates, to be in at camps with him where you see what the person is as well as the player, he was amazing. And he is, I’m sure, very proud of his career because he was one of the all time ones.”
Put to him that Rooney has had a tough time in management, in particular his difficult spell at Birmingham and now at Plymouth where his side have gone seven games without a win heading into Boxing Day, the 46-year-old City boss said: “Well you say tough. I say with a lot of this work there’s always a context to situations. If you come into a job at Plymouth, what’s the context? What’s success for them? So to take on a challenge of a tough time, of a tough job, is something I’m very aware of and Wayne will want and needs to be given time to show what he can do.
“And at Plymouth if anyone expected them to be fighting for automatic promotion, I’m not sure if there’s a realism to that. So you work with what’s in front of you and unless you know what’s going on behind the scenes in a job, I wouldn’t comment. I’ll just say, yeah, was it a tough time or a bad time?
“I think we work and you go through phases sometimes in teams where things are difficult and you carry on working to do the best. So it’s full credit to Wayne. There are some of us ex pros that go into jobs and put yourself in the arena. The majority maybe don’t, so I’ve always got respect for that in itself.”
Asked if he and Rooney ever discussed management and the desire to go into coaching during their many England camps together, Lampard said: “No, we didn’t speak like that. We were close. We spent a lot of time together in camps. Wayne was a player who was sort of close to everybody. “He used to sort of jump around all the groups, which was a beauty of his to bring a dressing room and a camp together, as such, so I spent a lot of time with him.
“But we didn’t, no, and I think as our careers went on and we met with England a few times as we started to get older and I guess, for me, my interest in management came in my thirties plus but we never had those conversations.”
Statistically, Argyle have the worst defensive record in the division, having conceded 45 goals. Asked if that’s something he’ll be looking to exploit, Lampard said: “Yeah, I mean, you look at every team in every way and try to exploit what might be a weakness. You are also aware of their strengths and you only have to look at the weekend where they traded with Middlesbrough – a very good team – and drew 3-3 and possibly feel like they might have won the game.
“So there’s absolutely no over complacency. We have to deal with them and respect them, and give our best and have our confidence, because we’re at home and we are a good team. And we have to show it.”
