A sense of revolt took grip on Sunday after John Terry said senior players were ready to confront Capello at a team meeting last night over his choice of tactics and player selection ahead of tomorrow's crucial final group match against Slovenia.
Lampard was one of nine squad members Terry said had spoken over a beer on Friday night, after the dispiriting draw with Algeria in Cape Town, and decided that significant changes were required if England were to avoid not qualifying from their World Cup group stage for the first time since 1958. But the Chelsea midfielder insisted that there was no confrontation with Capello last [Sunday] night and moved away from any claims that he or any other member of the squad is trying to undermine the Italian. "The manager just spoke to us," said Lampard. "We watched the Algeria game, which we know was a poor performance, we addressed that game, the manager addressed it, and that was it. It is overdone to call it a crisis meeting. "It wasn't the case [that the players had clear-the-air talks with Capello at the meeting] but I can understand where John [Terry] is coming from. He's passionate, he's like that for Chelsea and England. People are different, the messages I've had was that John just wanted to hit things head on." Asked if Terry had spoken up during the meeting, Lampard, though evasive, said he had not. It has also been reported that should England fail to beat Slovenia, Capello will resign as England manager. But Lampard stated his desire for the former Milan, Juventus, Roma and Real Madrid coach to remain in his post. "I've been lucky to work with some fantastic managers and Fabio Capello is up there," he said. "I would like him to stay, but it's not up to me, it's up to the FA." (Guardian)
