Frank Lampard talks England, Rooney, Costa, City and more on Sky Sports

Sky Sports 5 welcomed a very special guest to the Sky Sports 5 studio on Thursday night as Chelsea and England legend Frank Lampard joined us for our European Qualifiers coverage.

He spoke to us about a range of topics including England’s comfortable win over San Marino, Roy Hodgson’s current stars, his own England career and his future with Manchester City.

Here’s a snap-shot of that Frank conversation…

Frank on… England’s qualifying campaign

We should win every game – and that’s the target they will be setting for themselves. The biggest target, which the manager has spoken about, is the performance. We need improved performances as individuals because we are going to qualify from this group, there’s no doubt. What we need to do is try to get ourselves in peak condition and at peak performance for the Euros.

Frank on… Wayne Rooney

Knowing Wayne, he will sit there after the game and be slightly frustrated [that he only scored one goal], but I don’t think he should be. He scored his goal from a penalty and he created a couple of chances for himself in the second half that he would have wanted to score on a better day. I was pleased to see him play the whole game and I think the manager was aware he wants to break the record. Wayne loves playing and he carried on for 90 minutes and it was a good captain’s performance. It was a great penalty. If you see the size of his feet they are like blocks. He does it all the time in training when he side-foots strikes and gets such pace on them. Goalkeepers don’t expect that.

Frank on… Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain

I think The Ox’s career, at times, has been broken up by injury. Going into the World Cup he was looking very sharp and would have been prominent and played a lot of games, but he got injured. At Arsenal, he tends to get injured at times but when he gets on runs of form and plays like he did against San Marino he has got the pace and the ability on the ball. When you see someone like him coming into a game, he’ll have a few shots and arrive in the box and it all changes and goes up a notch. I quite like him centrally because he can get more on the ball centrally. In those areas he is really dangerous because he is running at centre-halves and back fours from a central position. He is going to have to work on his game defensively then because against good teams he is going to have to make sure he does the other work. He has got the fitness levels and will learn that game. I like him there. Arsene Wenger has flirted with putting him there and that could be a long-term role for him.

Frank on…Andros Townsend

He gave us pace and at the top level of football you need people with pace, who can make things happen out of nothing. He came in and did that last season he has had a bit of a lull for whatever reason – injuries didn’t help in the summer – but England and Spurs will need him to get back to that sort of form. The goal was significant for him. It’s easy sometimes for forward players to come on in a game like this and just want to score goals and do the easy things at the other end. He did do that, but his goal came from him winning a tackle on the half-way line. He helped England to qualify last year and for me he is at his best when he slips inside. He gets great pace and dip on his shot and that will give him confidence. It might be San Marino and an easy goal as such, but that will help him when he goes back to his club.

Frank on…Diego Costa and Cesc Fabregas

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I’ve watched their games from afar and neither of them are a surprise to me. I knew Cesc Fabregas and played against him at Arsenal. He knows the Premier League and is a top, world-class player. We watched Diego Costa on video before we played Atletico Madrid in the semi-finals of the Champions League last year and you could have probably sat there for three hours looking at his running, his goals and the things he was doing. I thought ‘he’s some player’ and Chelsea have signed that player. I know Vincent Kompany pretty well now and he saw playing against him as a challenge. Diego Costa probably walked into this league and thought it’s very good, but the Man City game was the one game where people stood up and fought back at him. He got through once and hit the post and that’s the quality of the player.

Frank on… his England debut against Belgium in 1999

As a young player there’s lots of steps on the ladder. You strive to get in your first team and into the England U21’s and the last big step always feels like the full squad. I got in there and I was fortunate enough that Kevin Keegan gave me my debut. It was a bit of a blur because I was so nervous and intent on trying to do as well as I could. I didn’t suck it in enough and when I look back it feels like a lifetime ago.

Frank on…his England career

First of all there’s pride – for your first England cap and every one you get. I look at it with a lot of pride for myself and my family. Then there’s that big tinge of – I wouldn’t call it disappointment, but we know we could have done better. I’ve been in squads where we were equipped to challenge to get in semi-finals and finals to get the country rolling behind us and we just fell short, so I’ll look back with slight regret on that. But I’m proud I managed to get past 100 caps and play with so many great players.

Frank on… playing with Steven Gerrard

Our biggest problem was that for our clubs, particularly in our peak years for Chelsea and Liverpool, Stevie was soaring and dominating that team and I was scoring regularly. People were expecting and wanting that in the England team. I’ll be brutally honest, and Steven would say the same, we didn’t quite deliver in the England team. I don’t know for what reason. I don’t think it was a case that we couldn’t play together. I just think there were periods in our career with England where we didn’t get the best out of things as a team.

Frank on… retirement

It was very hard. I gave it all the thought that I could, but it was certainly the right decision for me. It’s hard to watch England games now because you still want to be out there and play. To put a complete stop to it is a difficult decision, but for me personally with my club career and my family situation it was certainly the right move. I know that even more now. That was the important thing, once I started watching England games after my career, as long as I was happy then I knew I’d made the right decision.

Frank on… playing for Manchester City

I’d made the call to go to America, so I was moving from the Premier League. This has come as a surprise and an opportunity for me and I am thoroughly enjoying it. It always helps when you’re scoring goals and things are going alright on a personal note. I’ve turned up and I am training hard; I’m not one to sit and make up the numbers in the squad. I am at Manchester City now to try and play and contribute. I won’t play every game, but if I come on and make the difference in certain games I’ll be happy.

Sky Sports' live coverage of the European Qualifiers contiunes from Friday through to Tuesday on Sky Sports 5, your new home of European football.