"Eat Shit Lampard!"

"Eat shit, Lampard!".

That was what an England (and a Liverpool) fan, and mate of mine, screamed into the telephone when we spoke seconds after Steven Gerrard's scorching 90th minute goal for England just hours ago. My mate's sentiments might have been fueled by circumstances and club rivalry, but it is telling nonetheless.

This isn't an anti-Lampard campaign, mind you - it's just an effort to see things objectively and make a few brave comments and suggestions. And if the headline offends you, it's really just my penchant for tabloid sensationalism.

But something's wrong in the England setup, because throughout the game, Lampard frequently got into scoring opportunities, and on 7 occassions, made shots on goal. But none of them were goals. Lampard's failure to score from point-blank situations was even more frustrating considering that for the largest part of the match, England were staring at a goalless draw. There are a few schools of thought surrounding Lampard's performance, and I will first investigate the pro-Lampard school.

Shebby Singh is one of his admirers, consoling himself with the fact that Lampard nonetheless "got into those scoring positions", is "playing his natural game" and just wasn't in scoring form. That is true - Lampard worked very hard yesterday, and the fact that he had 7 amazing goalscoring opportunities says a lot about his positional sense, his runs into the box and his desire to score goals. It is also arguable that when Gerrard scored, it was only after the weight of the first-goal pressure had been lifted, and the entire English side had already begun to play more relaxed and effective football, including Lampard.

However, and this does little to convince the opposing school - 0 out of 7 great chances is woeful, and it is especially bad when your team needs it very bad. It is even worse when the rival for your position is being forced to sit in front of the back four all day tackling and passing from deep just so you can have the luxury of missing all your point-blank chances.

When Steven Gerrard shot - with his weaker foot - it was his very first shot on goal, and it wasn't just a goal, it was a magnificent goal. prior to that, he had only made one run into the box, and had earned two back-to-back freekicks when he did power upfield. But England's poor performances at this world cup have largely been the story of their best player being forced into a holding role when goals were dry (and no, that does not refer to Rooney cradling his foot in his hand).

Gerrard deserves to be unshackled from his defensive duties. He deserves to get into all those goalscoring positions that Lampard got himself into, because between the two of them, Gerrard has one shot on goal and one goal to show for, and Lampard has been misfiring in spite of his glut of attempts - some of them are embarrasing to watch. Ideally, both of them should be allowed to run on goal and shoot from the edge of the box. Ideally, England's dearth of fit strikers with goalscoring form should neccessitate them employing their goalscoring midfielders in their most advanced positions. Like i said, this is not an anti-Lampard campaign because ideally, both should be playing in attacking midfield positions. But not everything is ideal, least of all the sight of Eriksson on the bench, and that means England will probably start all their world cup games with a traditional 4-4-2. One of Lampard and Gerrard will always have to sit back and defend.

Now just because Gerrard can put in a tackle much better than Lampard doesn't make him a more suitable candidate for that defensive role. Gerrard has shown that he is a notch ahead of Lampard in many departments: he is a leader, he takes matches by the scruff of the neck, he changes the tempo and course, and often result of games, especially when the going is getting tougher. He is also a more complete player, and he can definitely tackle better, win balls better and cross the ball more accurately. Lampard used to have the boasting rights of scoring more goals, but this season in England, Gerrard outscored Lampard and now even ol Lamps can't boast on that anymore. With the possible exception of Wayne Rooney, fitness permitting, Steven Gerrard is by far England's best player, and we have barely seen him but for his one shot on goal against T&T last night.

After the disparity in finishing of yesterday, Eriksson should seriously consider - if he insists in keeping the 4-4-2 - dropping Lampard for someone like Michael Carrick, or god forbid, Owen Hargreaves, so that Gerrard gets a day in the sun in his favourite position, on the world stage. When he scored on his first attempt on goal last night, i think Stevie G earned that right.

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