It was a question that Frank Lampard must have heard a hundred times before but his composure never wavered for a second as he contemplated the latest inquest into England's misfiring midfield.

Less than an hour earlier England had extended their 100 percent start to the World Cup qualifying campaign with a 5-1 win over minnows Kazakhstan at Wembley.

But the scoreline covered a multitude of sins for Fabio Capello's side, who laboured to overwhelm a team ranked 131st in the world for long periods on Saturday.

Nowhere was England's creaking machine more in need of a repair than in midfield, where Lampard and Steven Gerrard once again failed to gel sufficiently to fend off the critics who claim they are too similiar in style to play together.

Capello spent much of the build-up to the match plotting a way to finally get the best out of Lampard and Gerrard.

Lampard had looked liberated alongside Gareth Barry during last month's 4-1 win over Croatia. But Gerrard was back from injury this time and Capello once again had to find a way to accomodate his two midfield stars.

Even with Barry deployed as a holding midfielder to allow Lampard and Gerrard license to break forward, there was nothing to suggest Capello has been any more successful than his predecessors in solving the problem.

Gerrard stayed deep for long periods and struggled to influence the game, while Lampard was unable to find the space to make an impact, although he did set up two goals with precise set-pieces.

Surely the men themselves must have some answer what is going wrong. So why, Lampard was asked, do England still look so confused in midfield.

"We know we are nowhere near where we want to be yet," Lampard admitted. "There were a couple of dodgy moments that we need to shore up but we reacted very well, especially when they got their second goal.

"If we had got the early goal we would have kicked on earlier but it doesn't always happen in international football. You need strength of character to keep going. You can't panic.

"We opened them up more in the second half and got our rewards. We have to keep playing with confidence.

"We are showing big signs of improvement along the way and hopefully we can continue that."

With a more testing qualifier against Belarus in Minsk coming up on Wednesday, there is little time for Capello to work on a solution.

His decision to take Barry off and leave just Lampard and Gerrard in middle paid dividends in theory as England scored all five of their goals after the change and he could opt to continue with that line-up.

But Gerrard and Lampard, both attacking players at heart, often left the central areas unguarded in their haste to go for goal.

Kazakhstan were able to score once and a more clinical team would have punished England further. It is a flaw Lampard knows they cannot afford to reveal in Minsk.

"Away games in qualifying are difficult wherever you go," he said. "You want to score, ideally early but if you don't they are tough.

"You see that in results across the board these days. Let's hope we go there with the same attitude we had here and against Croatia."

AFP

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