The Chelsea and England midfielder Frank Lampard admits that the two warm-up games against Mexico and Japan were not the best performances ever, but he believes that they are just another important part of England’s preparation.
He said: “These were tough games against two teams going to the World Cup finals.
“So we had been working hard, training hard and you also have to remember we were not playing settled teams. A lot of people, a lot of things were being tried out.
“You have to put everything into the equation and see these are not the games that are going to win you the World Cup – they are the ones that will get you ready to win it.
“The manager was pretty pleased with some of the negatives because it gives us time to address them now rather than in two weeks’ time.
“And, trust me, we are working hard. After the Mexico game we trained all the way up to the Japan game. We were training even on Saturday, the day before the match.
“But preparation for warm-up games will be slightly different to preparing for the real thing.”
“It’s much more about the players, not about formations and rollickings from managers. Players have to play.”
“Against Japan our second half display was better than the first even if it still wasn’t a vintage performance.
“It was much livelier. We were too slow in the first half. When you play against teams who put a lot of bodies in midfield, you don’t want to be outnumbered so we were too cautious.
“But after the break we moved the ball a lot quicker. We got the ball wider and got it into their box. It’s so important we play with our style and hit teams with pressure.”
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