There were no 'nervous nineties' for Frank Lampard. They say, in cricket, that the last 10 runs leading up to a batsmen's century are the hardest and when he is most likely to freeze up and give his wicket away. I'm not sure whether the statistics back this up but Geoffrey Boycott, predictably, doesn't go along with conventional thinking.
Neither, it seems, does Lampard, the England midfielder scored more goals whilst on 90+ caps than he did in any previous grouping of 10. The Chelsea man netted an extremely impressive seven times in nine months from his winner in a friendly versus Spain to the equaliser against Ireland earlier this year. On Tuesday, however, Lampard failed to score in his 100th game for England when presented with the only real England chance of the World Cup Qualifier against Ukraine.Lampard's achievement in reaching 100 caps for his country is nothing short of brilliant, it is of course a fantastic achievement for anyone. It's not that long ago that 'Lamps' found himself often booed by his own supporters during international matches and Gareth Barry found himself with the 'Man of the Match' award on at least one occasion pretty much on the basis of not being Frank Lampard. However there should be a huge asterisk next to the former West Ham midfielder's 100 caps, and the same goes for Messrs. Cole, Gerrard and, to a lesser degree, Beckham.
The three men are three of England's most decorated players of all time, based on caps. They have all relatively recently found themselves amongst the, now, eight players who have reached the 100 cap mark for England. One might suggest that it's fantastic in one generation, the generation that grew up in Premier League football, we've had four England legends worthy of playing over 100 times for this country. But a much more cynical truth exists. Look at the other names on the list- Peter Shilton, Bobby Moore, Bobby Charlton and Billy Wright. Only two other members of the illustrious list played in the same era and that was Moore and Charlton, World Cup Winners.
Cole, Gerrard and Lampard have all reached 100 caps, all started their international careers within two years of each other and have all won nothing! Of course no one since the era of Charlton and Moore has won any honours with England but no one else has achieved abject failure on more occasions than our three most recent centurions, simply because no one else has been given the chance. On Tuesday, against Ukraine, Gerrard and Lampard once again proved they are not the answer for England, as they have on many occasions since May 2000, when Gerrard made his England debut, there was little dynamism and both, Gerrard particularly, gave away the ball far too often. At left back Cole was actually one of England's best performers, probably only behind Gary Cahill, but the claims of Leighton Baines to start ahead of Cole are now so loud it's hard to see how Roy Hodgson continues to ignore them.
The experience the three men bring to the squad is unquestionable but how can other players get up to the 20+ caps that you'd hope most players would have going into major tournaments if the three biggest underachievers in international football continue to be road blocks into the starting XI. Of course it's not the players fault, they are merely indicative of the problems all recent England managers have faced. Mainly "who is there to replace the players in possession of the shirts?".Should England qualify and inevitably fail in their quest to win the 2014 World Cup, or even should they not qualify, it would be Cole and Gerrard's 7th failed attempt at a tournament with Lampard one back. We should doff our caps to these very talented players but we should surely question how they have amassed more than 300 caps between them whilst remaining highly unsuccessful.
Having got through the nervous nineties together the partnership must surely be over soon. The 'Golden Generation' might as well have been out for a golden duck!
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