Lampard pleads with England fans not to get on their backs

September 3, 2008

Lampard has pleaded with the England fans not to turn against the England team in their World Cup qualifier on Saturday.

Lampard and his team-mates were abused terribly in the Andorra game last year even though they won and Lampard wasn’t playing but he fears that the England fans may turn on them again if things don’t go their way on Saturday as the fans are still not impressed after a poor showing in the friendly against the Czechs.

“We just the hope the fans who travel this time will be behind the team,” he said. “When we went there before it was not a good atmosphere. Anyone who was there will know that.

“I don’t know if it was as bad as I can remember but when you play for England you have to be tough and able to handle atmospheres like that.

“The problem is games like that can be frustrating. Andorra are just going to sit in and try to make the score as respectable as they can.

“You need the crowd with you because when you are trying to break a team down, sometimes you have to wait a bit longer for a goal than you expect.”

The fans are confident of an England win but they want the team to win in style. Gerrard is out injured so it is up to Lampard in that midfield area.

“I don’t know if there will be more onus on me,” he said. “I think the eyes are on all the team because we need to get results. It’s not about individuals. The manager is very strong on that, it’s about a team effort.

“We shouldn’t single out any players. If people drop out we have a big enough squad to cope.”

“We take these games as a package and we want six points, simple as that,” he said. “Quite rightly, we are expected to beat Andorra.

“But those games aren’t that easy. Hopefully we can score an early goal and then go on and get the comfortable result we want.”

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