Frank Lampard’s opinion as Chelsea ace causes Paul Scholes and Gary Neville disagreement

Frank Lampard has told Moises Caicedo what he must now do after his Player of the Match performance helped Chelsea beat Liverpool in the Premier League at the weekend.

Chelsea legend Frank Lampard has challenged Moises Caicedo to be more consistent and shine for the Blues on a regular basis following his outstanding performance against Liverpool.

Caicedo, 23, hit the headlines after impressing, and scoring an incredible goal, during Chelsea’s 2-1 victory over the Reds at Stamford Bridge. The Ecuador international gave the Blues the lead in the first half, unleashing a long-range strike into the top corner from the edge of the box, giving goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili no chance.

That was Caicedo’s third goal of the season, already more than he managed throughout 2024/2025. His accurate and clinical finishing is a welcome string to his bow, with the former Brighton man now showing that he can both attack and defend, demonstrating the perfect combination for an all-round midfielder.

READ MORE: Liverpool warned over £87m transfer for Mohamed Salah successor – ‘We can imagine’READ MORE: Oliver Glasner’s Crystal Palace future thrown into doubt amid Man Utd speculation – ‘We will see’

After the game, Gary Neville caused quite the reaction as he named Caicedo as the best midfielder in the Premier League. “He’s everything and a brilliant midfielder,” Neville told Sky Sports. “He was the best player on the pitch by a mile and, if Liverpool had him, they would have won; he was that good.”

He added: “You think of [Ryan] Gravenberch last season and Declan Rice, Rodri obviously. But, right now, I think we can say he’s the best midfielder in the Premier League.”

Meanwhile, Paul Scholes disagreed with Neville and believes that Caicedo is lacking something to be classed as the best midfielder in the top flight right now. That with Newcastle United’s Sandro Tonali preferred.

“I still don’t class Caicedo as an all-round midfield player,” Scholes told The Overlap’s Fan Debate. “Okay, I know he’s got a great goal – and he was brilliant. I just prefer the controlling type of midfield players, who play with a bit more style and can score goals probably a little bit more often than Caicedo does.

“I think he’s one of the very best at what he does, which is breaking the play up. I love [Sandro] Tonali at Newcastle, I was trying to think of a player as good as Tonali especially. I think he’s been brilliant, [Bruno] Guimaraes as well.”

Now, Lampard has weighed in on the debate, too. Caicedo has been compared to both N’Golo Kante and Claude Makelele for his performances in a Chelsea shirt and Lampard can see why that is the case.

“They (Kante and Makelele) were both amazing,” Lampard said to talkSPORT. “I played with Maka obviously and he was a different type to N’Golo, because N’Golo could really get around, whereas Maka basically sat in front a lot.

“But I see because of the style of play, he (Caicedo) can do the Makelele break-up stuff really, really well, close down space really quickly. Now he’s shown last season, and this, that he’s got the sort of Kante bits in his game because N’Golo could do that, could arrive at the edge of the box and score.”

Lampard added that the comparison of Caicedo and both Kante and Makelele was a fair one but laid down the challenge for the Ecuadorian to continue his rise to the very top. “What he’s got to do now is just turn out consistently for the next season and hopefully try and win things with Chelsea,” Lampard said. “It (the comparison) makes sense, he’s doing really well.”

Enzo Maresca was not allowed to conduct post-match media duties following his late red card against Liverpool, meaning assistant head coach Willy Caballero stepped up to the plate to speak to reporters.

“About Moi, what can we say? He’s been playing a lot of games,” Caballero said on Caicedo. “Last season, the Club World Cup and the national games with Ecuador. And yeah, we need to manage sometimes because we want him to arrive well to the games.

“And today he did, one more time, a great job, a great game. Also, he scored a fantastic goal that handed us the opportunity to manage the game a little bit [better].”

Join our new WhatsApp community and receive your daily dose of Mirror Football content. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don’t like our community, you can check out any time you like. If you’re curious, you can read our Privacy Notice.