Lamps: Get off my back
From MARK IRWIN in Gelsenkirchen
FRANK LAMPARD feels he has been singled out for criticism after failing to set the World Cup alight.
Lamps — the runner-up to Ronaldinho in the World Footballer of the Year awards last December — had more shots at goal than any player in Germany.
But the Chelsea superstar failed to score and even flopped during the penalty shootout when his weak effort was saved by Ricardo.
And now he feels he has been unfairly targeted for blame after England’s latest failure.
Lampard, 28, said: “I’m a bit upset that a lot of people have been on my back because I’ve missed a few chances to score.
“After all I’ve done in the last two years I deserve a bit of respect.
“When people come along who want to knock me down, I do feel peeved. It gets my back up when unjust criticism comes from outside.
“I am upset because I’ve worked my socks off to try and be successful in this World Cup.
“And I would have loved to have scored the winner against Portugal and shown a few people but, unfortunately, that wasn’t to be.
“A lot of people have criticised our performances throughout the World Cup but you can only praise our efforts on Saturday.
“The spirit, the work-rate and the effort we gave, the fact we played with 10 men for an hour, created the better chances and never felt as though Portugal were going to score.
"It’s so frustrating to go out on penalties again.
“That can happen to any team — it happened to Argentina the previous night against Germany.
“But the depressing feeling is that it’s happened to England a few times now.
“The fact three of us missed a penalty means no individual is isolated for the blame but that doesn’t make it any easier for me.
“It is a horrible feeling to be one of those who missed a penalty but those are moments when you stand up to be a man.
“And when you put yourself in that position, there’s always a chance it could go wrong.”
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Steven Gerrard was equally upset at his failure to convert during the shootout and confessed: “I feel numb. I just can’t get that miss out of my head.
“The way I hit a ball, I should score from the spot. I have taken 20 or 30 penalties in practice over the last month and probably scored 95 per cent of them.
“I tried to do what I did for Liverpool in the FA Cup final against West Ham but my strike wasn’t accurate enough and the ball didn’t go where I wanted it to.
“Saturday was the hardest game I have ever played, when we were down to 10 men and the lads had nothing left.
“We did well just getting to penalties and I thought we were going to to do it this time.
“I’m just absolutely sick I didn’t score my penalty, I’m gutted. I have never felt this bad as a footballer before.”
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20 or 30 penalties over a month, ffs?
Knowing previous experience every player should have been taking 20-30 penalties every bloody day - and no this 95% bullcrap, have right attitude of olympic gymnastics teams - it has to be 100% right, not 95%, not 99% but 100%. FFS, its a lot easier to kick bloody ball from 11 yards than do insane life-risking in gymnastics!
From MARK IRWIN in Gelsenkirchen
FRANK LAMPARD feels he has been singled out for criticism after failing to set the World Cup alight.
Lamps — the runner-up to Ronaldinho in the World Footballer of the Year awards last December — had more shots at goal than any player in Germany.
But the Chelsea superstar failed to score and even flopped during the penalty shootout when his weak effort was saved by Ricardo.
And now he feels he has been unfairly targeted for blame after England’s latest failure.
Lampard, 28, said: “I’m a bit upset that a lot of people have been on my back because I’ve missed a few chances to score.
“After all I’ve done in the last two years I deserve a bit of respect.
“When people come along who want to knock me down, I do feel peeved. It gets my back up when unjust criticism comes from outside.
“I am upset because I’ve worked my socks off to try and be successful in this World Cup.
“And I would have loved to have scored the winner against Portugal and shown a few people but, unfortunately, that wasn’t to be.
“A lot of people have criticised our performances throughout the World Cup but you can only praise our efforts on Saturday.
“The spirit, the work-rate and the effort we gave, the fact we played with 10 men for an hour, created the better chances and never felt as though Portugal were going to score.
"It’s so frustrating to go out on penalties again.
“That can happen to any team — it happened to Argentina the previous night against Germany.
“But the depressing feeling is that it’s happened to England a few times now.
“The fact three of us missed a penalty means no individual is isolated for the blame but that doesn’t make it any easier for me.
“It is a horrible feeling to be one of those who missed a penalty but those are moments when you stand up to be a man.
“And when you put yourself in that position, there’s always a chance it could go wrong.”
*
Steven Gerrard was equally upset at his failure to convert during the shootout and confessed: “I feel numb. I just can’t get that miss out of my head.
“The way I hit a ball, I should score from the spot. I have taken 20 or 30 penalties in practice over the last month and probably scored 95 per cent of them.
“I tried to do what I did for Liverpool in the FA Cup final against West Ham but my strike wasn’t accurate enough and the ball didn’t go where I wanted it to.
“Saturday was the hardest game I have ever played, when we were down to 10 men and the lads had nothing left.
“We did well just getting to penalties and I thought we were going to to do it this time.
“I’m just absolutely sick I didn’t score my penalty, I’m gutted. I have never felt this bad as a footballer before.”
---------
20 or 30 penalties over a month, ffs?
Knowing previous experience every player should have been taking 20-30 penalties every bloody day - and no this 95% bullcrap, have right attitude of olympic gymnastics teams - it has to be 100% right, not 95%, not 99% but 100%. FFS, its a lot easier to kick bloody ball from 11 yards than do insane life-risking in gymnastics!
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