‘Golden’ Tag frustrates Frank Lampard

Frank Lampard has expressed his frustration at England’s ‘golden generation’ tag.

The term has often been used to describe the group of players, including John Terry, Steven Gerrard, Ashley Cole, Rio Ferdinand and Lampard, which is now either just past, or nudging towards, the 30 mark.

Yet all too often, the phrase appears to have undermined any decent form England have managed to get themselves into, given the elite group of players have failed to deliver the major prize craved by an expectant nation.

Lampard is brave enough to accept the ‘golden generation’ have not delivered. But since he did not come up with the name, he has found the whole idea slightly extraordinary.

“The whole ‘golden generation’ thing is quite frustrating for us players,” he said.

“We didn’t make up the term. I don’t know where it got made.

“But the reason people talk about the ‘golden generation’ is that we have a good crop of players.

“They are very talented individuals, but we have not made the most of it. We have all held our hands up to that many times.”

While the most recent feelings have been of disappointment – losing their 100% World Cup qualifying record in Ukraine on Saturday – in building an eight-match winning sequence to reach South Africa with two matches to spare, Lampard and friends have given themselves an opportunity to finally prove they are as good as that early hype first suggested.

“Now is a great chance,” he admitted.

“I am not saying we are going to win the World Cup, but we are in better shape than we have been.

“The team is working as a unit much better than it has done in the past. We have good individuals; we are experienced – and we have World Cups behind us.

“But the proof will be in the pudding. It is up to us to take all those plus points and use them next summer.”

It is fairly obvious to point out that for England to triumph under the leadership of Fabio Capello, they need that ‘golden generation’ – plus a more recent addition in Wayne Rooney – to be at the peak of their powers.

For Lampard, that means drive and energy from midfield – and a decent goals return.

It seems strange that after scoring almost at will for Chelsea over the past five seasons, the 31-year-old should suddenly stop doing so just as his drought with England has come to an end.

Yet amazingly, Lampard’s only goals for Chelsea this season came in the Community Shield and from the penalty spot – whereas with England, a run of three in 27 internationals has been replaced by six in his last eight appearances.

Statistics can be manipulated to suit any purpose. But the brutal truth is Lampard, Rooney and Gerrard must score – because Emile Heskey almost certainly will not.

“He is not a prolific scorer – but he does a lot more than that,” Lampard explains.

“Some of the results we have had when Emile is in the team are well-documented. When you ask the other strikers who they like to play with, Emile is always there.

“Maybe that means the focus is on me to score with England more often. But that is no problem.

“People like me and Steven Gerrard have scored goals for our clubs and for England. There should be pressure on us to do it. We put pressure on ourselves to score goals. That is a good thing.”

All the remaining members of Capello’s squad did some training today before Wednesday’s match against Belarus at Wembley.

Rooney returned to Manchester United on Sunday night, where his calf injury will be monitored before Sir Alex Ferguson returns from a short break in New York on Thursday to decide whether his star striker will be fit to face Bolton on Saturday.

Capello will be under pressure not to take chances with Gerrard, who limped out of Saturday’s defeat at the Dnipro Arena with a groin injury – so Aston Villa’s Gabriel Agbonlahor could start his first competitive game.

It seems Ferdinand will be involved too, with Lampard eager to dismiss the mistake that led to Robert Green becoming the first England goalkeeper to be sent off.

“We all make mistakes,” he said.

“There is not a shadow of a doubt Rio will recover. His form over the last four or five years puts him up there with some of the top centre-halves in the world.

“What happened on Saturday was unfortunate, but it seems there is always one player who has to take some stick.

“In big games you need big players. Rio is certainly one of them.”