It's not easy being Frank.

From Guardian Unlimited Football:
While the Chelsea midfielder can rationalise the demands of modern football, he is not impervious to disparagement. Much was demanded of Lampard at the World Cup after his 39 goals for Chelsea in the past two seasons, as indeed it was of the whole England team.

As the dreams of the Sven-Goran Eriksson era exploded in Germany, it was the goalless Lampard who bore much of the criticism, a trial that tested his emotional maturity. "Sometimes it gets on your mind, you can't help it," he said at the launch of his autobiography Totally Frank.

"There are days when maybe you think negatively - the only way you react well is to react positively. This is part of being a footballer. You can't get this attitude of 'everyone's against me'. It is part of being a player. In modern-day football you have to be big enough to take it. I've had it at certain times and the important thing is coming through it and coming through it stronger."

The goal from last Wednesday against Greece provided catharsis that will help obliterate the pangs of summer 2006. "It was an important game for me," he said. "You could see by my celebration that I was happy with the goal, particularly as it was deflected. That was the sort of goal I would have died for at the World Cup and it comes in a friendly just after."

He may not have intended to be quite so refreshingly candid, as Premiership footballers seldom are, but Lampard's frank words reveal a man who has suffered agonies at the hands of his detractors. When asked about the contrast this summer presented with the highs of the past two title-winning seasons at Chelsea, he said: "You have to realise that things will go against you at some stage. You have to understand and accept that when it doesn't go right for you, that is the time to show your mental strength. It makes you stronger."

Lampard insisted that his encouraging performance and that of Steven Gerrard could equally have come about had McClaren persisted with them as a midfield pair. "I believe, and I've always believed, me and Steven can play together," said Lampard.