I can´t believe you´ve gone Lampard-Gerrard! – Chelsea boss laughs off Mount and Maddison comparison

Chelsea head coach Frank Lampard laughed off a comparison between Mason Mount and James Maddison being called up by England and his own experiences with Steven Gerrard.

Uncapped attacking midfielder Mount has enjoyed a fine start to the campaign at Chelsea, having excelled on loan under Lampard at Derby County last term, and was rewarded with a place in the England squad to face Bulgaria and Kosovo in Euro 2020 qualifying.

Mount and Maddison, who is also yet to make his first senior international appearance, were named in the group for Nations League matches against Croatia and Spain in October 2018 but went unused.

Lampard does not believe the duo will have any problems playing in the same team, brushing aside a suggestion there could be a situation similar to when critics stated he and Liverpool star Gerrard were unable to feature in the same England XI.

“I can’t believe you’ve gone Lampard and Gerrard. I thought we’d moved on!” Chelsea’s head coach said to chuckles at a news conference ahead of the Blues’ clash with Sheffield United on Saturday.

“There’s been a lot of talk of my generation with England. Now, sitting on this side, we have intelligent players.

“We had Mason and Ross [Barkley] in the same team on the same side of the pitch last week. We played against Maddison a few weeks ago and I was hugely impressed, two intelligent footballers who can adapt to positions.”

Honoured to receive the call up  #ThreeLions pic.twitter.com/IMZNaU4WQ4

— Mason Mount (@masonmount_10) August 29, 2019

Lampard also has no concerns over Mount’s selection coming too early.

“We’re delighted for Mason. Great recognition, delighted he’s got this chance again,” Lampard said.

“I’m not concerned about it. I’m confident in his strength of character, desire and hunger. Those things won’t affect him. Everyone has to keep their feet on the ground.”

Mount’s team-mate Tammy Abraham did not make the cut, but Lampard believes the striker, who had to withstand racial abuse on social media following his penalty shoot-out miss in the UEFA Super Cup loss to Liverpool, will earn his first cap since 2017 soon enough.

“It’s a matter of time for Tammy, hopefully,” Lampard said. “Really impressed [with his maturity].

“His character and how he dealt with the situation was brilliant in terms of the Twitter nonsense. He dealt with it first-hand and rose above it, which isn’t easy.”