Lampard dismisses Bilic claims
Lampard in positive mood about tomorrow's qualifier
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Tuesday, 08, Sep 2009 09:00
By Darren Plant.
Frank Lampard has dismissed claims by Slaven Bilic that England are 'missing Englishness' ahead of tomorrow's World Cup qualifier.
The Croatian manager believes Fabio Capello's side lack the threat of previous England sides, but Lampard claims Bilic's comments are just mind games and vowed to ignore them.
Lampard said: "I don't want to get drawn into what Slaven said, but I think he has only said things because we are building up to an important match.
"Slaven is a clever man and I think it is more a case of trying to get into the players heads and distracting us from what we hope to achieve."
The Chelsea midfielder played in the 3-2 defeat to Croatia in 2007 that ended England's European Championship hopes, and he believes the players can use that experience to change their fortunes this time around.
"The 2007 defeat to Croatia was the lowest point of my international career," he admitted.
"It was a horrible night, and it scars you as a player.
"We have come a long way since 2007 and we have not got the depleted squad we had on that night.
"We all remember the feeling in the dressing room after that match. We have reacted positively since then, and we hope to continue that tomorrow night."
England enjoyed a good build-up to the clash with the Croatians at Wembley with a 2-1 victory over their eastern European neighbours Slovenia last Saturday, with Lampard scoring the first from the penalty spot.