Frank Lampard is one of four NYCFC men to be nominated for MLS End of Year Awards.
The 38-year old is up for Comeback Player of the Year after he put his injury troubles to one side to help fire his team into the Playoffs for the first time in club history.
David Villa, Jack Harrison and Patrick Vieira are also up for MVP, Rookie and Coach of the Year, respectively.
We caught up with Frank after season’s end to discuss his nomination, as well as the season as a whole and his plans for the winter…
On the Nomination…
“Comeback of the Year is not necessarily the one you want – there’s a bit of an undertone to it but it’s nice – I’ve been injured and I appreciate the idea of it.
“In the games I’ve played I’ve been very happy to have scored so regularly, I’m just a bit disappointed that I couldn’t play so regularly and then if I had been fit I could hopefully have been challenging for top goalscorer in the league.
“Then, maybe I could have scored more to help us get to first place and probably could have been playing in the Playoffs a bit fresher than I was but these are things that happen in every player’s career.
“The games I did play I felt like I played pretty well and I’m happy that I was able to make a good contribution to help us get towards the Playoffs.”
READ: Jack Harrison on Rookie of the Year Nomination
On Toronto…
“The result against Toronto in both games was very disappointing so there were areas I would focus on to improve from that.
“It’s great we made the Playoffs but hopefully next season the club can go even further.
“To go away first, everyone always thinks that’s an advantage but it’s not always the case, especially as we didn’t get the away goal. It gave us a lot to do and it gave them a lot of confidence going into the second leg. The rest is history – once we conceded one, then two, everybody in the stadium knew it was going to be a tough night for us.”
On Patrick…
“It’s a success in terms of where we came from – we played some good football, we got some great results and we brought through some promising young players.
“As a manager, he’ll be happy with what we’ve achieved this year but knowing how he works, he’s the same as me, it’s not good enough – we want to do more. We always want more success for the club.”
Favorite Moment of the Season…
“DC at home definitely - the two late goals – personally, they felt great. Obviously the first hat-trick for the club was a special moment but it was a comfortable victory. The DC one was from behind and it was a very late winner.
“The atmosphere in Yankee Stadium that night and the celebrations after the winning goal will stay with me for a long time.”
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On Villa…
“He’s up there with the very best. I’ve played with Drogba, Aguero and David’s up there with them in that company.
“I knew from playing against him when he was at Barcelona and Valencia what a special player he was and I’ve seen it in training here and on the pitch – his hunger for goals is phenomenal.
“It’s a simple answer: David is up there with the very best in the world.”
Plans for the Winter…
“I haven’t played golf for a long time and that’s why I put that shot up on Instagram. I managed to hit the one good ball out of 100 at the driving range.
“It’s nice to have a bit of a break – I’ll try and keep fit as I always do. I’ll stay in New York for a bit, I’ll head back to London to see family and hopefully enjoy a bit of a break.”
