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Frank Lampard criticism is unfair and Chelsea boss shouldn't be compared to Arsene Wenger
Chelsea manager Frank Lampard has received unfair criticism this season, according to Stan Collymore.
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Frank Lampard should not be judged on the FA Cup final defeat to Chelsea and can make the Blues both entertaining and defensively sound, according to Stan Collymore. The former Liverpool striker and pundit believes Lampard has been the victim of unfair criticism this season and has wrongly been compared to Arsene Wenger and Eddie Howe for an apparent "laissez faire attitude to defending".
Lampard has enjoyed a successful first season in charge at Chelsea, securing a top-four finish and Champions League qualification while also reaching the FA Cup final.
But the 42-year-old has been criticised for his inability to improve a defence that was the leakiest in the top half of the Premier League and has an obvious weakness from set-pieces.
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Collymore believes Lampard should be given several transfer windows to build the team he wants at Stamford Bridge and has pointed to the Blues boss' playing career as evidence of how much he values defending.
In his column for The Mirror, Collymore said: "I’m sick of hearing that Frank Lampard needs to learn to put out teams that can defend.
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"This is the same Frank Lampard who played with John Terry and a whole host of other top-class defenders.
"The same Frank Lampard who was part of a Chelsea team that didn’t just win things by having good attacking players but by being uber-pragmatic under Jose Mourinho.
"This is a guy who is one of the most intelligent in English football, who played in teams which won trophy after trophy after trophy because they knew exactly how to hold on to slender leads.
"Yet still we cuff him and question whether he gets the importance of defending or not, and that absolutely makes my blood boil.
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"Lampard hasn’t even had a full summer transfer window at Stamford Bridge to be able to bring in the defenders he wants.
"So we need to give him three or four windows before we start lumping him in with Arsene Wenger and Eddie Howe because I know their laissez faire attitude towards defending isn’t something we’ll be seeing from Lampard.
"Give him time and we’ll see him taking one or two of the best young defenders in Europe and starting to turn them into the next JT."
The reference to Wenger will irk Arsenal fans who remember the formidable defences established during the Frenchman's most successful years in north London.
The likes of Tony Adams, Martin Keown, Nigel Winterburn, Steve Bould, Lee Dixon, Sol Campbell, Ashley Cole and Lauren all contributed to watertight rearguards, although the Gunners did suffer defensively in Wenger's later seasons.
Meanwhile, Bournemouth were relegated this year with the third-worst defence in the top flight after conceding 65 goals in 38 matches.
By comparison, Chelsea shipped 54 goals in the same number of games but Collymore is certain Lampard can turn that record around in the future.
"He knows the template, he knows the cookie cutter, and anyone asking questions about his philosophy at this stage of his managerial career is barking up the wrong tree," he said.
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