‘I can tap into a lot of expertise,’ says Frank Lampard as new Coventry boss reveals dinner dates with other managers

FRANK LAMPARD’S hunger for knowledge saw him arrange regular dinner-dates with some of the best brains in football.

And gave him plenty of food for thought ahead of his return to management.

Lamps takes charge of Coventry City for the first time today when they host Cardiff City at the CBS Arena.

And he revealed how he used his 18 month sabbatical from football to gorge himself on a feast of football expertise.

He said: “I’m probably fortunate, after a long career as a player and my roots, I can tap into a lot of expertise and other people’s experiences.

“During my time out I stayed very close to other managers that are working in the game.

“I’ve had dinners with Thomas Frank and Roy Hodgson, people I have a lot of respect for as managers and also Gareth Southgate before the Euros.

“I was very lucky, I went up to work in a bit of a media capacity with Manchester City and Pep [Guardiola] invited me in and we had an hour-long chat.

“I went to see Thomas Frank and the work he is doing at Brentford.

“It’s always enlightening when someone sees the game differently from you, so I’ve done a lot of that sort of stuff.

BEST FREE BET SIGN UP OFFERS FOR UK BOOKMAKERS

“But, if I’m honest, the main thing I’ve done is watch a lot of games.

“I’ve also gone over a lot of things I’ve done in my training and planning for what may come next.

“I’ve watched a lot of games where teams have tried to do something different and I tap into it.

“I watch back games from the weekend, predominantly Premier League games and Championship games.

“I’ve been watching matches from a wide angle and it kind of takes some of the excitement out of it with the noise off.

“But for me tactically, it’s good to do.”

Coventry fans looking for clues about how Lampard will set up the Sky Blues will be interested to discover the teams and coaches who have impressed their new boss most during his watching brief.

And Lamps gave a hint that he might Cherries-pick some of the best bits from Bournemouth.

He said: “I actually played with Andoni Iraola in New York and watched a lot of what Bournemouth are doing.

“Some of their off the ball work – and how aggressive they are off the ball, I loved that.

“I also watched a lot of Ipswich last year and was obviously interested in what was happening there.

“Credit to the manager and coaches for what they’ve done.

“I went into areas where something interests me – Aston Villa, for example.

“You can definitely look at what other people are doing but it’s important as a manager you have your own ideas.

“I want to play exciting football. What coach would sit here and say the opposite of that?

“I’ve got belief in the squad. I want us to be exciting to watch in an attacking sense.

“I also want us to be very difficult to play against without the ball and win the ball back as high as we can.

“Hopefully the proof will be in the pudding.”

Lampard is desperate to get off to a winning start against fellow strugglers Cardiff City today.

But he warned: “This is the Championship so you have to have complete respect for your opponent.

“Cardiff will be wounded after losing at home to QPR in midweek and we know they’ll be fighting.

“We also know they have a manager (Omer Riza) who’s very keen to put his imprint on the team.

“I’ve been able to watch them a bit and they do some interesting things in terms of how they play.

“So our only focus right now is on Cardiff and trying to give our lads confidence to produce consistency in our work.”

Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk