Thursday, November 26, 2009

Lampard's :Club career

Club career
West Ham United
Lampard joined West Ham, where his
father was the assistant coach, as an apprentice in July 94 as part of their youth system, and signed his professional forms a year later. He was loaned to Division Two team Swansea City in October 1995, and debuted in a 2–0 win over Bradford City, and scoring his first senior goal in a game against Brighton & Hove Albion. Lampard made nine league appearances for Swansea City before returning to West Ham in January 1996, with whom he played his first match at the end of the month against Coventry City, and spent the remainder of the season as a reserve.
The next year, a broken leg suffered in a March game against
Aston Villa prematurely put an end to Lampard's 1996–97 season after thirteen appearances. He had to wait until the 1997–98 campaign to score his first goal for West Ham, which came in a road victory over Barnsley. He became a starter in 1998–99 and appeared in every match as West Ham finished fifth in the Premier League standings, which saw the club qualify for Europe. In the 1999-2000 season, Lampard finished as West Ham's third highest scorer, with a total of 13 goals, which was his highest single season total. These included his first ever European goals, with a total of four in the club's Intertoto Cup and UEFA Cup campaigns. Following the sale of teammate and friend Rio Ferdinand to Leeds United after the 2000–01 season, combined with the departures of his father and Redknapp, Lampard followed suit and left West Ham, but chose to stay in London by joining Chelsea for an £11 million fee.
Chelsea
2001–2004
Lampard's Premiership debut with Chelsea came on 19 August 2001 in a 1–1 draw with
Newcastle United, while his first red card came in a match against Tottenham Hotspur on 16 September. On 23 September Lampard, along with three other Chelsea players was fined two weeks wages for his behavior whilst on a drinking binge on 12 September. Lampard and the others had abused grieving American tourists at a Heathrow hotel, just 24 hours after the September 11th attacks. A hotel manager stated "they were utterly disgusting. They just didn't seem to care about what had happened".
He scored a total of seven goals in all competitions in his first season at Chelsea. Lampard appeared in all of Chelsea's league matches and scored eight goals in the 2001–02 season. He netted the match-winner in Chelsea's
2002–03 season-opener against Charlton Athletic.
The
following season, he was selected as the Barclays Player of the Month in September 2003, and the PFA Fans' Player of the Month in October. Chelsea finished 2nd in the 2003-04 Premier League behind unbeaten Arsenal F.C. and he was named in the 2004 PFA Team of the Year as he reached double figures in league goals (10) for the first time in his career, in addition to four goals in fourteen UEFA Champions League matches, as Chelsea advanced to the semi-finals. In the semi-final vs Monaco he scored, but Chelsea lost 5-3 on aggregate.
Lampard played in all thirty-eight Premiership matches for the third consecutive season in
2004–05. He finished with 13 goals (19 in all competitions), in addition to leading the league in assists with sixteen. He scored a long-range goal from 25 yards vs Crystal Palace in Premier League which Chelsea won 4-1. He scored two goals vs Bolton in a 2-0 win which was the Premier League title winning match, which also won the first major trophy of his career as Chelsea bagged their first Premiership title in fifty years, by a twelve point margin. He was named as Barclays Player of the Season. In the Champions League quarter-finals he scored 3 goals in 2 legs against Bayern Munich as Chelsea won 6-5 on aggregate, his second goal in the first leg was stunning, he controlled Makelele's cross with his chest then turned & swivelled and sent the ball inside the far post with a left-foot half volley. Though Chelsea were eliminated in the Champions League semi-finals by league rivals Liverpool, they took home the Football League Cup, in which Lampard scored twice in six matches, which included the opening goal vs Manchester United in the League Cup semifinal, which Chelsea won 2-1. He landed his first personal award by being named the FWA Footballer of the Year. Football legend Johan Cruyff referred to him as "the best midfielder in Europe".
He netted a career-high 16 league goals in 2005–06, which marked an increase for the fifth consecutive season and was a Premier League record for a midfielder to score goals in one season. In September 2005, Lampard was selected as a member of the inaugural FIFPro World XI. His record of consecutive Premiership appearances ended at 164 (five better than previous record-holder David James) on 28 December 2005, when he sat out a match against Manchester City due to illness. The streak began on 13 October 2001, during his first season with the club, though has since been bettered twice. He finished as runner-up to Ronaldinho for both the Ballon d'Or and FIFA World Player of the Year awards.. He scored twice against Blackburn Rovers F.C. in a 4-2 win, which included a free-kick from 25 yards. After the match manager Jose Mourinho hailed Lampard as the Best player in the world. Chelsea won the Premier League for the second time, in which Lampard was Chelsea's topscorer with 16 league goals. In the Champions League group stages, he scored a free-kick vs R.S.C. Anderlecht, Chelsea proggresed to the first knock-out round but were eliminated there by F.C. Barcelona.
Due to a back injury sustained by
John Terry, Lampard spent much of the 2006–07 campaign as team captain in his absence. He enjoyed a streak of seven goals in eight games, he scored both the goals in a 2-0 win over Fulham F.C. and scored his 77th goal for Chelsea from a long range strike in a 3–2 win over Everton F.C. on 17 December, overtaking Dennis Wise as Chelsea's highest scoring midfielder.. Then in the UEFA Champions League group stages he scored a goal from a extremely tight angle vs Barcelona, at Camp Nou, the match ended 2-2. Lampard finished with 21 goals in all competitions, including a career-high six FA Cup goals; he had scored seven Cup goals in his first eleven seasons combined. He scored his first Chelsea hat-trick in the third-round tie against Macclesfield Town on 6 January 2007. He scored two goals to help Chelsea to a quarter-final draw with Tottenham Hotspur after having trailed 3–1, and he was named the FA Cup player-of-the-round for his performance.. He gave the assist to Didier Drogba in the 2007 FA Cup Final which was the winning goal in extra-time, as Chelsea won it 1-0. In a post-match interview following Chelsea's FA Cup Final victory over Manchester United, Lampard said he wanted to stay at the club "forever."
2007–2009
Lampard's 2007-08 season was riddled with injury, managing to play 40 matches, 24 of which in the league—the fewest he had played in a season since 1996–97. On 16 February 2008, Lampard became the eighth Chelsea player to score 100 goals for the club in a 3–1
FA Cup fifth-round win over Huddersfield Town. After the final whistle, Lampard removed his jersey and flashed a T-shirt to the Chelsea fans with "100 Not Out, They Are All For You, Thanks" printed across the front. Then in the Premier League match vs Liverpoool he scored a penalty in the 62nd, from which Chelsea equalised, the match ended 1-1 at Anfield. He scored four goals in a 6–1 rout of Derby County on 12 March. Then in UEFA Champions League quarter-finals, second leg he scored the winning goal against Fenerbache in the 87th minute as Chelsea won 3-2 on aggregate. On 30 April, Lampard, grieving the loss of his mother a week earlier, decided to play in the second leg of Chelsea's Champions League semifinal against Liverpool, who were eliminated on 4–3 aggregate as he took a emotional penalty in the 98th minute of extra-time, which he scored confidendtly. In the final against Manchester United, he scored an equalising goal in the 45th minute, as Michael Essien's deflected shot found him as he went to the box with his trade-mark run, he scored with a left foot finish. The Match ended 1-1 after extra-time and Chelsea lost 6-5 on penalties. He was later named UEFA Club Midfielder of the Year.
On 13 August 2008, Lampard signed a new five-year contract with Chelsea worth £39.2 million, making him the highest-paid Premiership player. He started the 2008–09 season by scoring five goals in his first eleven league matches. He scored the 150th goal of his club career with a goal vs Machester City in the Premier League. Then he scored chipped goal vs Hull City with his left foot in the Premier League; he unleashed a chip from 20 yards that curled & swerved and fooled the goal-keeper as it went into the net, World Cup winning coach Luiz Felipe Scolari said after the game: "It was the best goal I have seen, My vote for World Player of the year award will go to him ,only a player with his intelligence could have done that". Then scored his hundredth career Premiership goal in a 5–0 victory over Sunderland on 2 November. Eighteen of Lampard's hundred goals were penalties. He was named Premier League Player of the Month for the third time in his career in October. After a streak of matches without scoring, Lampard scored three goals in the span of two days, the first being against West Bromwich Albion and the latter two against Fulham. On January 17, 2009, he made his 400th Chelsea appearance against Stoke City, scoring a stoppage time winner. He again scored a stoppage time winner, this time vs Wigan Athletic. Then in the FA cup 4th round, he scored a free-kick from 35 yards vs Ipswich Town. He scored twice against Liverpool in the second-leg quarter finals of the Champions League which ended 4-4, but Chelsea won 7-5 on aggregate. Then he provided two assists in the next game against Arsenal in FA Cup Semi-finals which Chelsea won 2-1. Lampard finished the Premier League season with 12 goals and 10 assists, and won the Chelsea player of the Year for 2009. Manchester United Manager Sir Alex Ferguson heaped praise on Lampard saying: "Frank Lampard is an exceptional player - a huge asset to Chelsea, You pay attention to players who can get goals from midfield and he's been averaging 20 a season.You don't see him getting into stupid tackles or making a habit of becoming involved in silly rows. He stayed restrained in the middle of all that bother after Chelsea were knocked out of the Champions League by Barcelona and made a point of swapping shirts with Iniesta - as I say Lampard is exceptional!". Lampard's 20th goal of the season was the winning goal in the FA Cup Final against Everton, with a left-foot shot from long-range. He repeated the corner flag celebration his father had done after scoring the winning goal in the 1980 FA Cup semifinal second leg against Everton. It was the fourth consecutive season that he scored 20 or more goals. He was named later named Chelsea's Player of the Year for the third time.
2009–present
Lampard scored against
Manchester United, in the 2009 Community Shield, in the 72nd minute, the match ended 2-2, but Chelsea won 4-1 on penalties. On 18 August 2009, Lampard scored Chelsea's second goal in a 3-1 away win against Sunderland. He scored his 133rd goal for Chelsea in a UEFA Champions League match against Atletico Madrid on 21 October 2009, which moved him up to 5th among the club's all time goalscorers. He had been struggling to score the amount of goals he had in the past seasons however this soon changed as he scored 2 goals in the 5-0 defeat of Blackburn Rovers on 24 October 2009. On 30 October 2009, he was nominated for the FIFA World Player of the Year award for the sixth straight year. He then scored a penalty against Bolton as Chelsea ran out 4-0 winners on Halloween. On 13 November 2009 it was confirmed Lampard would be out for around 3 weeks due to a thigh injury sustained on international duty. Lampard is out for 3 weeks following an injury during training in Doha leading up to the match against Brazil.