Lampard!

[Chinners]

Good signing for his experience. I believe that he insisted that he would not play against Chelsea if he came on loan ... which I get to be honest

[Blue Blood]

Wouldve been a great signing ... in 2007.

If Im James Milner and Fat Frank, whos legs went last season, gets games ahead of me then that's the coup de gras for me.

I get the experience thing he brings, but talk of playing him against Chelsea? Wtf the fookin fucl? If hes in our cent midfield then somethings gone shit shaped as Fernando, Fernandinho, Ya Ya & Milner all merit selection ahead of him in that area for starters. For Fat Frank I can see the benefit in terms of clubs profile, catalogue pictures, and the 3rd round of the Capital One.

Legs went? He played 40 games under Mourinho last season, a man who suffers no fools. I think he'll be ok as a squad player for us.

Makes a great deal of sense this. Never hurts to have a player of Lampard's pedigree in the team, helps he can still kick a ball at this level (40 games, 7 goals and 6 assists last year, isn't terrible) and he isn't blighted by injury too like a lot of older players.

I'd consider this a bit of a coup tbh.

[Ted Hughes]

I also think pretty much all of our midfield players, including Garcia, are better than Fwank. But he was once one of the best in the league, & sometimes players get a 2nd wind & suddenly produce something which seemed to have gone.

He needs to if he's going to play for us, because last season he was nowhere near our level. We don't lose anything though, as he's only replacing players who don't play & if he puts in two decent free kicks or nicks one sneaky goal, it could be worth the whole deal.

[lets all have a disco]

I also think pretty much all of our midfield players, including Garcia, are better than Fwank. But he was once one of the best in the league, & sometimes players get a 2nd wind & suddenly produce something which seemed to have gone.

He needs to if he's going to play for us, because last season he was nowhere near our level. We don't lose anything though, as he's only replacing players who don't play & if he puts in two decent free kicks or nicks one sneaky goal, it could be worth the whole deal.

He still played 30 odd games and scored more goals than Ferna,Garcia,Milner combined.

I agree about the likely hood of him popping up along the line and stick the important goal or two in.

[Dubciteh]

One of my Fave non city players ever, I'm delighted! He is likely replacing Rodwell the fact he can actually play means we are better off as a squad already!

Watch him do something to make it all worthwhile as Ted says!

[dazby]

It's all a bit pointless. The only benefit I see is that he'll be fit when he goes to the US.

[MilnersJaw]

how much way paying this fat fuck to sit on the bench and get larger each week?

and I agree, if fat frank starts ahead of me, i'd be disappointed.

[Blue Blood]

It's all a bit pointless. The only benefit I see is that he'll be fit when he goes to the US.

That's one benefit (to the city group) but i think he can be of greater use to us than Rodwell was, the player he is clearly replacing (short term). He also helps us with english quotas and all that jazz and the name "Lampard" will no doubts sell a few shirts too, he's still pretty popular after all.

Can't see the downside myself, If he's crap, he won't play and he's gone in 6 months, if he's good he'll get games and likely (given previous history) contribute something to our season, be it a goal or an assist, it all adds up.

Better to have him, than not have him i say!

[Spurge]

I also think pretty much all of our midfield players, including Garcia, are better than Fwank. But he was once one of the best in the league, & sometimes players get a 2nd wind & suddenly produce something which seemed to have gone.

He needs to if he's going to play for us, because last season he was nowhere near our level. We don't lose anything though, as he's only replacing players who don't play & if he puts in two decent free kicks or nicks one sneaky goal, it could be worth the whole deal.

He still played 30 odd games and scored more goals than Ferna,Garcia,Milner combined.

I agree about the likely hood of him popping up along the line and stick the important goal or two in.

Oh that's such a BBC sport like quote - they said David Silva and Samir Nasri only scored 1 more goal in the league than Frank Lampard. That may be true but.....

Nasri whilst wanders inside was technically utilised in wide roles mostly and whilst the BBC were using the 'only one more goal'to suggest 'not much better' than 36 year old Frank, they omitted to comment on what we all know as fact, that this was Samir's best season by a country mile in a City shirt. Also no comparison by the BBC of David Silvas number of assists versus Lampards assists last season, understandable as it wouldn't have supported their argument in anyway whatsoever.

So looking at your comment re Ferna, Garcia and Milner, well Ferna is a holding midfielder who played a lot last season, Garcia is a holding midfielder who didn't play as regularly as Ferna and Milner played a dozen times or so usually out wide. Lampard is a central midfielder played in an advanced role perhaps best compared to Yaya Toure who both yourself and the BBC forgot to mention........I wonder why?

[Ted Hughes]

I also think pretty much all of our midfield players, including Garcia, are better than Fwank. But he was once one of the best in the league, & sometimes players get a 2nd wind & suddenly produce something which seemed to have gone.

He needs to if he's going to play for us, because last season he was nowhere near our level. We don't lose anything though, as he's only replacing players who don't play & if he puts in two decent free kicks or nicks one sneaky goal, it could be worth the whole deal.

He still played 30 odd games and scored more goals than Ferna,Garcia,Milner combined.

I agree about the likely hood of him popping up along the line and stick the important goal or two in.

Oh that's such a BBC sport like quote - they said David Silva and Samir Nasri only scored 1 more goal in the league than Frank Lampard. That may be true but.....

Nasri whilst wanders inside was technically utilised in wide roles mostly and whilst the BBC were using the 'only one more goal'to suggest 'not much better' than 36 year old Frank, they omitted to comment on what we all know as fact, that this was Samir's best season by a country mile in a City shirt. Also no comparison by the BBC of David Silvas number of assists versus Lampards assists last season, understandable as it wouldn't have supported their argument in anyway whatsoever.

So looking at your comment re Ferna, Garcia and Milner, well Ferna is a holding midfielder who played a lot last season, Garcia is a holding midfielder who didn't play as regularly as Ferna and Milner played a dozen times or so usually out wide. Lampard is a central midfielder played in an advanced role perhaps best compared to Yaya Toure who both yourself and the BBC forgot to mention........I wonder why?

Gerrard scored a lot more & I'd rather have a dose of the clap than him.

But as we see, it has enabled us to get Rodwell off the wage bill & he certainly will be worth more to our squad than poor ol Jack has been. And he is likely to nick us a goal. We have done a nice little manoeuvre here.

[Spurge]

I also think pretty much all of our midfield players, including Garcia, are better than Fwank. But he was once one of the best in the league, & sometimes players get a 2nd wind & suddenly produce something which seemed to have gone.

He needs to if he's going to play for us, because last season he was nowhere near our level. We don't lose anything though, as he's only replacing players who don't play & if he puts in two decent free kicks or nicks one sneaky goal, it could be worth the whole deal.

He still played 30 odd games and scored more goals than Ferna,Garcia,Milner combined.

I agree about the likely hood of him popping up along the line and stick the important goal or two in.

Oh that's such a BBC sport like quote - they said David Silva and Samir Nasri only scored 1 more goal in the league than Frank Lampard. That may be true but.....

Nasri whilst wanders inside was technically utilised in wide roles mostly and whilst the BBC were using the 'only one more goal'to suggest 'not much better' than 36 year old Frank, they omitted to comment on what we all know as fact, that this was Samir's best season by a country mile in a City shirt. Also no comparison by the BBC of David Silvas number of assists versus Lampards assists last season, understandable as it wouldn't have supported their argument in anyway whatsoever.

So looking at your comment re Ferna, Garcia and Milner, well Ferna is a holding midfielder who played a lot last season, Garcia is a holding midfielder who didn't play as regularly as Ferna and Milner played a dozen times or so usually out wide. Lampard is a central midfielder played in an advanced role perhaps best compared to Yaya Toure who both yourself and the BBC forgot to mention........I wonder why?

Gerrard scored a lot more & I'd rather have a dose of the clap than him.

But as we see, it has enabled us to get Rodwell off the wage bill & he certainly will be worth more to our squad than poor ol Jack has been. And he is likely to nick us a goal. We have done a nice little manoeuvre here.

Don't get me wrong the Lampard loan deal makes perfect sense, I don't have an issue with the fact we have signed him on loan. It's these irrelevant comparisons and stats that are appearing that I guess I'm finding a bit annoying.

On that theme the other thing that makes Yaya a more realistic comparison (if that what they want to do) is that he and Frank Lampard are free kick specialists and penalty takers - but again the BBC chose to ignore the 'bleedin obvious' and decided instead to go down the only one more league goal route for Merlin and Samir.

[Beefymcfc]

Fat Frank!

*chortle*

[Ted Hughes]

I also think pretty much all of our midfield players, including Garcia, are better than Fwank. But he was once one of the best in the league, & sometimes players get a 2nd wind & suddenly produce something which seemed to have gone.

He needs to if he's going to play for us, because last season he was nowhere near our level. We don't lose anything though, as he's only replacing players who don't play & if he puts in two decent free kicks or nicks one sneaky goal, it could be worth the whole deal.

He still played 30 odd games and scored more goals than Ferna,Garcia,Milner combined.

I agree about the likely hood of him popping up along the line and stick the important goal or two in.

Oh that's such a BBC sport like quote - they said David Silva and Samir Nasri only scored 1 more goal in the league than Frank Lampard. That may be true but.....

Nasri whilst wanders inside was technically utilised in wide roles mostly and whilst the BBC were using the 'only one more goal'to suggest 'not much better' than 36 year old Frank, they omitted to comment on what we all know as fact, that this was Samir's best season by a country mile in a City shirt. Also no comparison by the BBC of David Silvas number of assists versus Lampards assists last season, understandable as it wouldn't have supported their argument in anyway whatsoever.

So looking at your comment re Ferna, Garcia and Milner, well Ferna is a holding midfielder who played a lot last season, Garcia is a holding midfielder who didn't play as regularly as Ferna and Milner played a dozen times or so usually out wide. Lampard is a central midfielder played in an advanced role perhaps best compared to Yaya Toure who both yourself and the BBC forgot to mention........I wonder why?

Gerrard scored a lot more & I'd rather have a dose of the clap than him.

But as we see, it has enabled us to get Rodwell off the wage bill & he certainly will be worth more to our squad than poor ol Jack has been. And he is likely to nick us a goal. We have done a nice little manoeuvre here.

Don't get me wrong the Lampard loan deal makes perfect sense, I don't have an issue with the fact we have signed him on loan. It's these irrelevant comparisons and stats that are appearing that I guess I'm finding a bit annoying.

On that theme the other thing that makes Yaya a more realistic comparison (if that what they want to do) is that he and Frank Lampard are free kick specialists and penalty takers - but again the BBC chose to ignore the 'bleedin obvious' and decided instead to go down the only one more league goal route for Merlin and Samir.

Oh I completely agree. It is typical.

[Hutch's Shoulder]

He was an essential signing to fulfil our quota of fat, homegrown players. Shrek is big enough to take up two places in the rags' quota.

[littlebig]

Good interview on the OS, he comes across well in fairness.

His presence and experience will benefit the squad no doubt and will be good to be able to throw someone of his calibre into the fray when needed.

[Mikhail Chigorin]

The Lampard signing just got me pondering a little and, in this post, I'm ignoring goalkeepers who are a different breed altogether.

Correct me if I'm wrong but my conception of players in other European countries (can't speak for S America) was that they had the potential for longer careers, quite often into their mid or later thirties, than their counterparts in this country.

Xavi, in Spain, immediately springs to mind as do players such as Baresi and Maldini in Italy, as well as Pirlo who is still going strong at the moment. There are others who are possibly more recent and it'll be interesting to see how long Ibrahimovich continues at PSG.

For all sorts of diffuse reasons, it just seemed that in this country, once a player had hit thirty, a time bomb started ticking which had a particularly short fuse (not that a bomb with a fuse would be actually ticking, I don't suppose) and his career was in terminal decline.

However, it would seem that, in spite of his age, Pellegrini seems as though he might well use Lampard in some situations and he's just signed Sagna whose best years are behind him. Recently we signed Maicon (although that was nothing to shout about) and before him Vieira - and this just got me thinking of other players still playing in their later footballing years.

Richard Dunne still seems to be soldiering on at the moment and, although pains me to use them as examples, at Swampland there were GiggsScum and ScolesScum who were both well past their accepted 'sell-by' dates when they finished playing.

I just wonder if, in the next few years this trend might continue in this country (if it is a trend at all and not something I'm just imagining) coupled with better diets, better training routines, better medical services etc. and we'll see players have far longer playing cycles than hitherto......who knows, if the determination is still there, we might see David Silva playing for us in his later thirties; or even Yaya !!??

.....and then there was always Stanley Mathews.......

[Ted Hughes]

These days the top players are monitored so much for health etc & on the screaming piss a lot less than the ones of yesteryear, so it's likely there will be a higher percentage who stay in the game later.

Pearce for instance doesn't drink (perhaps he should).

You can imagine a gnarled looking James Milner turning out for Birmingham in about ten years time.

[twosips]

Well it's as simple as you said. Players are just better athletes these days cos of all the sports science. Unless he has some terrible injury woes I can imagine Silva being great until his early mid 30s as he's never been about explosive pace. I suspect though he won't be first choice.

[littlebig]

on the screaming piss a lot less than the ones of yesteryear

Drinking used to be a big part of the culture but now it would be almost taboo for a player to be seen on the rip. The whole culture has changed towards a more professionally focussed one. Health and fitness regimes and even food science is a whole world away from the 80's and previous years hard man drinking culture.

[JamieMCFC]