BACK TO ARCHIVE INDEX © All written site content is copyright ComeOnBoro.com 2004-2007, unless otherwise stated, and is not to be used without prior permission.	DUO LAUD LAMPARD Steve McClaren and John Terry have joined forces to defend Frank Lampard after the midfielder came under fire for his performance in Saturday's Euro 2008 qualifier against Andorra. The Chelsea star bore the brunt of anger from fans in radio phone-ins in the aftermath of the game at Old Trafford despite England winning 5-0 in the opening group match. He appears to be continuing to face a backlash after, by his own high standards, an average World Cup campaign in which he failed to score in five games. Lampard is renowned for his goalscoring and surging runs forward but on Saturday he was used in a more restrained role against a side which packed the midfield and defence. McClaren, whose side face Macedonia tomorrow evening, said: "I read some of the comments after the game and it was a difficult match for us against a packed defence. "Frank Lampard normally likes a lot of freedom and space to run into, especially from centre midfield. There wasn't that much space to run into. "But the one thing that really pleased me about Frank's game on Saturday was he had more touches of the ball than anyone else, he had more passes than anyone else. "His success rate was higher than anyone else on the park and he received and passed the ball over 100 times. That is a phenomenal number of times. I've never know anyone else achieve that amount. "It was a different role for him, a more subdued one because of the packed defence, and he really left and created the spaces for other people to run into. It was a different kind of game for Frank and he did it really well." John Terry claimed his Chelsea team-mate had nothing to prove. He said: "The criticism of Frank is very unfair. If you look at his performances after the World Cup at Chelsea, he came back, scored goals and has been playing great. "It was only two or three weeks ago that he scored a goal against Greece and played great. Maybe because he didn't score at the weekend people, are saying things again about him. "But his performance and his role in the team was spot on and the criticism is very unfair because I think he has been playing fantastic." By Bettingzone.co.uk Used with permission. SEND THIS TO A FRIEND ENGLAND v ANDORRA & MACEDONIA MATCH PROGRAMME INDEX
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