Frank Lampard

Chelsea career

League title winning-goals, FA Cup and Champions League Final strikes, nerveless penalty taking, assists galore and record-breaking sequences of appearances, Frank Lampard has been both the man for the big occasion, and for the week-in, week-out dedication that is the bedrock of genuine achievement. He is without doubt one of the finest players ever to wear the Chelsea blue.
After a quiet start at the Bridge, with just 15 goals in two years following an £11 million transfer from West Ham, Frank bloomed into one of Europe's finest.
An early sign of what was to come was his commanding display against Arsenal's Patrick Vieira in an FA Cup Final defeat at the end of his first season, progress that was continued the following campaign.
In 2003/04, the first season under Roman Abramovich's ownership and Frank's third
at the club, he retained his place despite many new arrivals and his phenomenal form was only beaten by Thierry Henry when English football's individual awards were handed out.
The top performances continued to come in 2004/05, as did the goals, Frank's powerful shooting firing Chelsea to the Premiership title that season as he top-scored from midfield with 13 in the League and 19 overall. There was no one more appropriate to score the two magical goals at Bolton that sealed the championship triumph.
The Sportswriters' Footballer of the Year that year and runner-up in the European and World Player of the Year voting for 2005, Frank continued to prove as close to indispensable as can be found in modern football as his team duplicated the Premiership success in 2005/06.
When in December 2005, he finally missed a game due to a virus infection, it brought to an end a new Premier League record of 164 consecutive appearances, since surpassed by goalkeeper Brad Friedel.
In 2006/07, his 62 games was the highest total by any Chelsea player in a single campaign and although the next year was affected by two rare injuries and bereavement, Frank continued to drive Chelsea on from midfield game after game after game and made it to the now regular 20-goal mark.
The injuries were unfortunate but genuine tragedy struck in April 2008 with the death of Frank's mother. His courage and nerve in scoring a vital Champions League semi-final penalty against Liverpool on his return from compassionate leave, followed by his dramatic equaliser in the Final, were among that season's strongest images.
Since then Lamps has become Chelsea's top scoring midfield player ever; and is the player to win the most international caps while a Chelsea player.
A five-year deal was signed in the summer of 2008, and he quickly got into goalscoring form, netting an audacious chip from the edge of the area at Hull in October that year, an automatic Chelsea Goal of the Season contender though eventually edged out by Michael Essien's Champions League volley against Barcelona.
As the performances of those around him began to wane, Frank's form remained consistent under Luiz Felipe Scolari, scoring key goals over Christmas 2008 to keep the team in touch with the league leaders.
The arrival of Guus Hiddink midway through the campaign brought extended freedom for Lampard, who repaid his coach with late goals in a league win over Wigan and a 4-4 Champions League thriller against Liverpool, before we eventually bowed out of Europe in controversial circumstances against Barcelona. There was however joy when his second-half strike won the 2009 FA Cup against Everton, his goal celebration a nod to that of his father's in an FA Cup semi-final 29 years earlier.
With an incredible 27 goals from central midfield in 2009/10 and a sack-full of assists as Chelsea won the Double, it seemed Frank was improving with age, especially factoring in his resistance to injury and his ability to avoid a single yellow card in the whole of that season.
His historic '09/'10 season began as it would end - at Wembley - where he contributed a Community Shield goal, helped set up another, and then buried a penalty in the successful shootout.
The 31-year-old actually went 10 games without a goal before four in three arrived in October.
After a penalty miss at Man City at the beginning of a difficult Christmas period, it was two successful penalties that dug the team out of trouble against Portsmouth and West Ham.
He bounced back from Champions League disappointment against Inter Milan in the first knockout round by banging in four league goals against Aston Villa in a 7-1 rout.
The feat, the second time he had achieved such a tally in a game, took him over the 150-goal mark for Chelsea and beyond Roy Bentley to become our third-highest scorer of all time.
After converting another penalty against Villa at Wembley to book a place in the FA Cup Final, the focus shifted to league football for the next five games, and it was there where Frank really delivered.
At Anfield there were major celebrations as he swept home Nicolas Anelka's centre to confirm crucial victory in the run-in.
In the final league game Frank won and took a penalty to put Carlo Ancelotti's team two goals to the good as we ran riot against Wigan, setting up the Double should we beat Portsmouth in the FA Cup Final.
It was a Drogba free-kick that broke the deadlock that Wembley May day, and even though Frank's final contribution was to drag a penalty wide at the death, he was there in the Royal Box to lift the trophy alongside John Terry.
The 2010/11 season was a rare one in the Lampard collection in that it was afflicted with lengthy injury. Recovering from a routine hernia op, he suffered a tendon injury at the top of his leg in training which lengthened the absence to four months during which team form declined.
He scored his second goal of the season in the first game of 2011 and still collected 13 goals by the end. On April 6^th in a home Champions League game against Manchester United, he become only the fourth player to make 500 appearances for Chelsea.
Pre-ChelseaIronically, Frank's ever-present habit was one of the reasons why he was under-appreciated by some at the club that nurtured him.
With Frank's father the West Ham first team coach when the teenager broke into the first team there, sections of the support at Upton Park cried nepotism over the son's regular place in their side. He was ever-present in the Hammers team that finished fifth in '98/'99 and was capped for England the next season.
However when manager Harry Redknapp and Frank senior were sacked in 2001, it was time for Frank to move on and although Leeds was a possible destination at the time, it was across London the player went as he sought a club where he could take his career to the next level.

International goalAfter a debut against Belgium in 1999, Frank would have to wait until June 2003 to feature for a full 90 minutes in an England shirt, and he scored his first goal that August against Croatia.
He was well worth his place in the Euro 2004 team and was voted the England team's Player of the Year after three goals in four tournament games, and he won the poll again in 2005.
That made it all the more surprising when Frank failed to register on the score sheet in the 2006 World Cup in Germany, despite shooting more frequently than anyone.
It drew outside criticism, his years of incredibly consistent achievement seemingly forgotten, but after a lean spell under Steve McClaren he returned to goalscoring form under Fabio Capello, and Frank's critics began to re-evaluate their opinions and he was finally being appreciated in an England shirt too.
Unlike in 2006, Frank went into the 2010 World Cup in red-hot scoring form, even by his own extraordinary standards.
However as Capello played with the jigsaw of England's midfield, Frank's goal threat again appeared diminished although he was one of the best players against Slovenia in the third group game, and was infamously denied his first World Cup goal by a ludicrous linesman's decision as England exited versus Germany.
A hernia operation meant he sat out the beginning of England's Euro 2012 qualifying campaign but he returned in 2011 with goals and victories with the three lions on his chest. No Chelsea player has won more international caps while playing for the club.

Season 2011 - 12

Career History:
Club	Season	Comp.	Apps (as sub)	Goals
Chelsea	2010 - 11	League	23  (1)	10
		FA Cup	3  (0)	3
		Euro Cups	4  (0)	0
Chelsea	2009 - 10	League	36  (0)	22
		FA Cup	6  (0)	3
		League Cup	0  (1)	0
		Euro Cups	6  (1)	1
Chelsea	2008 - 09	League	37  (0)	12
		FA Cup	7  (0)	3
		League Cup	1  (1)	2
		Euro Cups	11  (0)	3
Chelsea	2007 - 08	League	23  (1)	10
		FA Cup	1  (0)	2
		League Cup	3  (0)	4
		Euro Cups	10  (1)	4
Chelsea	2006 - 07	League	36  (1)	11
		FA Cup	7  (0)	6
		League Cup	3  (3)	3
		Euro Cups	11  (0)	1
Chelsea	2005 - 06	League	35  (0)	16
		FA Cup	4  (1)	2
		League Cup	0  (1)	0
		Euro Cups	8  (0)	2
Chelsea	2004 - 05	League	38  (0)	13
		FA Cup	0  (2)	0
		League Cup	3  (3)	2
		Euro Cups	12  (0)	4
Chelsea	2003 - 04	League	38  (0)	10
		FA Cup	4  (0)	1
		League Cup	1  (1)	0
		Euro Cups	13  (1)	4
Chelsea	2002 - 03	League	37  (1)	6
		FA Cup	5  (0)	1
		League Cup	3  (0)	0
		Euro Cups	1  (1)	1
Chelsea	2001 - 02	League	34  (3)	5
		FA Cup	7  (1)	1
		League Cup	4  (0)	0
		Euro Cups	4  (0)	1