Frank Lampard lauds ‘character’ of Fratton Park ahead of Portsmouth v Coventry
Frank Lampard says Fratton Park is a “great football stadium” and is wary of his Coventry City side giving the Portsmouth fans “what they want” this weekend.
Pompey host Lampard’s Sky Blues on Saturday [21 December] in the final Fratton contest of 2024, as John Mousinho looks to lift his team back out of the Championship relegation places while under pressure to deliver, after last week’s hammering by Lampard’s old side Derby County [13 December].
Lampard insisted to Coventry City’s official website [20 December] that his side must be careful not to feed into the energy of the Blues crowd.
“You always felt the atmosphere of the stadium. It’s an old-fashioned stadium and it’s nice to have a few of those still around,” he said.
“It’s part of the game when you go to these stadiums, understanding that if you give their fans what they want they will be active in the game and can affect it, and I felt that as a player and we will feel that on Saturday.
“It’s up to us to take that away from them because they can affect the game, but it’s a great football stadium to go to and has character about it.”
Portsmouth meet Frank Lampard again
Portsmouth have a mixed historical record against Coventry, having last faced them in League One in the 2019-20 season.
The Sky Blues won at what is now the CBS Arena, while the teams played out an entertaining 3-3 draw at Fratton Park.
Lampard himself knows plenty about the Blues in their prime, at exactly the period he was at his world-class best as a player.
He scored 10 goals and claimed three assists in 16 games against Pompey, all during his Chelsea days, and notably missed a penalty between the two sides in the 2010 FA Cup final.
The 46-year-old has so far taken charge of four matches with the Sky Blues, winning two with a draw and a defeat apiece.
This will be the first time Lampard meets Portsmouth as a manager in a competitive league fixture, with Coventry sat seven points above their hosts in 15th, albeit having played two more games.
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