Sir Frank Lampard

"The role doesn’t have to change. What has to change is the way we analyse competition. Before we didn’t analyse, before it was, 'Every match, he plays'. Sometimes I wanted to give him a rest in a Carling Cup match and he’d say, 'If you give me a rest, in the next match I will not be the same because I have to play every three days'.

"We have just to make some choices. I believe he is the same player and the only difference is he is 35. The time needed to recover from match to match is not the same for a man of 25 as a man of 35.  I cannot coach Lampard at 35 the same way I coached Lampard at 27."

"He can't play 60 matches like he did before, but the quality of the player and what he represents for the way I like to play football is exactly the same."

"He’s intelligent, he’s open and he has a very good relationship with me. He knows what I did with Makelele here in the last two years of Makelele. He knows I know how to do it with players of his age because, at the end of the day, we have to be just clever."

Frank Lampard has been told by Jose Mourinho that he needs to play this week to be considered for Chelsea's Premier League opener.

The Chelsea boss made it clear that he is starting to worry about Lampard's fitness as he said: "Frank has got to start playing."

Unless Lampard can meet the looming deadline, Mourinho is prepared to write him out of the short-term equation.

Which could mean a competitive debut for new Dutch signing Marco van Ginkel on Sunday week.

Shed wrote:Chelsea issue Frank Lampard fitness ultimatum on midfielder's road to Hull:
Injured star who hasn't played yet in pre-season has been told he must get on the pitch by the weekend to figure in Blues' Prem opener
http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/chelsea-frank-lampard-must-play-2131245

Frank Lampard has been told by Jose Mourinho that he needs to play this week to be considered for Chelsea's Premier League opener.

The Chelsea boss made it clear that he is starting to worry about Lampard's fitness as he said: "Frank has got to start playing."

Unless Lampard can meet the looming deadline, Mourinho is prepared to write him out of the short-term equation.

Which could mean a competitive debut for new Dutch signing Marco van Ginkel on Sunday week.

"There is no pain with the injury any more, I am feeling good."

"I like to think I am a pretty fit bloke and will be ready for Hull."

"That season [2004-05] was a season for them to say, 'We are the best in this country', and it was the season for me to say: 'I’m not just very good in Portugal, I’m also very good here.' So it was like an explosion of motivation on both sides."

"I remember saying clearly to Frank Lampard: 'You are one of the best players in the world, but nobody knows.'"

"In one of the seasons Frank was a finalist in what is now the Ballon d’Or, and I think he didn’t win because he was not a European champion."

"Between 2004 and 2007 he became, for sure, one of the best players in the world. So we motivate people also with individual challenges, and for him, for sure, that was a challenge we put there and he understood and he was ready for it."

"If Frank’s 2012 Champions League win had come before, he would have been voted the best."

"The time he came to the club before, he took my career a long way. It was more my mind-set rather than anything particularly tactical in football terms."

"I've always had a huge appreciation of that and, even when he wasn't at the club and has been away, we've stayed in touch."

"I wouldn't say [we're like] father-son because he has a very good way, as all the best managers do, of being quite familiar with you and helping you, but also remaining a manager."

"He's not a father figure too much, so you have to respect him."

"I think we've tried to find the right mix in our relationship and maybe we have done."