Lampard has faith in out of sorts England pal Ferdinand
ENGLAND midfielder Frank Lampard has backed out-of-sorts international colleague Rio Ferdinand to bounce back from his current malaise.
Ferdinand was heavily criticised for his performance in the shock defeat in Ukraine on Saturday, in which the Manchester United defender made the latest in a series of high-profile errors.
Despite those slips manager Fabio Capello is not expected to drop him for tomorrow’s visit of Belarus – the last fixture of a World Cup qualifying campaign that has already achieved its aim.
And Chelsea star Lampard, 31, insists he also has unwavering faith in a player he has known since they emerged together from the youth ranks at West Ham.
“We all make mistakes,” he said. “There is not a shadow of a doubt Rio will recover. His form over the last four or five years puts him up there with some of the top centre-halves in the world.
“What happened on Saturday was unfortunate, but it seems there is always one player who has to take some stick. In big games you need big players. Rio is certainly one of them.”
Lampard and Ferdinand, 30, are both part of the so-called Golden Generation of England players, who have yet to deliver the trophy many pundits predicted.
That group, which also includes captain John Terry and Liverpool’s Steven Gerrard, is likely to have its last realistic chance of landing silverware together at next summer’s finals in South Africa.
Lampard admits that is the case, but insists he and his contemporaries resent the tag and the additional burden of expectation it brings.
“The whole Golden Generation thing is quite frustrating for us players,” he said. “We didn’t make up the term. I don’t know where it got made. But the reason people talk about the Golden Generation is that we have a good crop of players.”
Lampard added: “I am not saying we are going to win the World Cup, but we are in better shape than we have been.
“But the proof will be in the pudding. It’s up to us to take those plus points and use them next summer.”