JOSE Mourinho insists Frank Lampard's days as a goalscoring midfielder are far from over.
The Blues' record goalscorer, who recently signed for another season at Stamford Bridge, had been the subject of speculation that he might be asked to play in a deeper holding role.
Over the course of the last season, both Roberto Di Matteo and Rafael Benitez experimented with the England man there – a solution that didn't play especially well with the now 35-year-old's strengths.
But Mourinho says there is no need to change Lampard's position to extend his playing days.
“The role doesn’t have to change,” said the Chelsea boss.
“What has to change is the way we analyse competition. Before we didn’t analyse, before it was, 'Every match he plays'.
“Sometimes I wanted to give him a rest in a Carling Cup match and he’d say, 'If you give me a rest, in the next match I will not be the same because I have to play every three days'.
“We have just to make some choices. I believe he is the same player and the only difference is he is 35.
“The time needed to recover from match to match is not the same for a man of 25 as a man of 35. I cannot coach Lampard at 35 the same way I coached Lampard at 27.”
Attempts to turn Lampard into a Claude Makelele-style deep-lying midfield visionary last season were not especially successful, with him still playing his best football in his preferred role further up the pitch.
But Mourinho does say that he can help Lampard to mirror the Chelsea experience of Makelele in one important way.
The returning Chelsea manager said: “He’s intelligent, he’s open and he has a very good relationship with me.
“He knows what I did with Makelele here in the last two years. He knows I know how to do it with players of his age because, at the end of the day, we have to be just clever.”
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