Carlton Cole: Frank Lampard should be judged on what happens this season

Ex-England international and West Ham and Chelsea forward Carlton Cole spoke to the Racing Post about his former teams

As someone currently working in the West Ham academy do you think the pathway is easier now than when you came through at Chelsea?

Definitely. There are a lot of young players coming through Premier League clubs and getting their chances, and the more there are the better it is for English football. They are giving out caps like Smarties now - I remember it took me ages to get in the England squad at 25 - but it bodes well.

What do you make of the Hammers' start to the season?

Well, the Arsenal game was a massive improvement from Newcastle and I think that opening defeat was a wake-up call - we don't want to have the same kind of season as last term.

The clear-cut chances went our way at Arsenal and it was a good place to start building from even though we lost.

We've got a difficult run coming up but I have been involved with West Ham for nearly 15 years and we always pull it out of the bag.

What's Declan Rice's best position?

I have seen him at centre-back and he is good but he made his name in midfield and that is his best position. I don't see how going back to defence will be good for his overall development.

What do you make of Lampard as a Chelsea manager so far?

Lamps is a very good morale-boosting manager for his teams.

I think he has a good support network around him obviously with Jody Morris, and his mate Joe Edwards as well. That will be important this year as he has had money to spend.

This will be year that he is judged. I know Frank said there was a lot of pressure on him last season, but there will be more now because he has spent money now which puts him in with all of the Premier League big boys in terms of managers who have invested in the team. I hope it goes well for him.

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