The England vice-captain believes his international team-mate has found the belief he requires at Liverpool after struggling for opportunities at Stamford Bridge

Departing Chelsea midfielder Frank Lampard believes selling Daniel Sturridge to Liverpool was a mistake by the Stamford Bridge outfit.

The England striker left the Blues in January 2013 and has gone onto score 31 Premier League goals in just 37 starts for Brendan Rodgers’s side.

That form has seen him called up to England’s World Cup squad for the upcoming tournament in Brazil, with the former Manchester City trainee seen as a key figure in Roy Hodgson’s side.

And Lampard admitted he is pleased for his international team-mate after seeing him grow frustrated at a lack of first-team opportunities at Chelsea.

“I’m really pleased for Studge [Sturridge] because, at Chelsea, I think he was a bit ­frustrated. He felt he could have played more,” he told the Sunday Mirror.

“He felt the position he was playing in was one he wasn’t happy with and he felt it was good for him to move.

“It was maybe not good ­business for Chelsea. It looks bad when you look back, but, at the time, you never know. Individually, for him, it was a good move. He has gone from strength to strength.

“I think he does get the credit he deserves now, but with what Luis Suarez does alongside him at Liverpool, maybe that takes the edge off the praise.”

Lampard, who has announced that he will be leaving Chelsea after 13 years with the club, feels that the belief that Sturridge has found since he moved to Merseyside has played a major part in his improved record.

“Studge has got that inner-belief and no wonder, because he is one of the sharpest players I have seen off the mark, with his quick feet around the box and he gets his shots away, he is very difficult to defend against. I think he is comfortable at Liverpool.

“At Chelsea and struggling a bit to get in the team and then he goes and he has a lot of belief in him there at Liverpool, you can see Brendan Rodgers really trusts in him, he started scoring and he hasn’t stopped.”

Despite playing under the Argentine for a little over 18 months, the striker – who has just earned a dream move to Liverpool – has thanked his former manager for his influence

Rickie Lambert has hailed the impact Mauricio Pochettino has had on his career after leaving Southampton for boyhood club Liverpool.

The striker’s €5 million move to Anfield has seen him return to the club he left as a youth player 17 years earlier, and can now look to impress for his country at his first ever World Cup.

And Lambert insists the Argentine – who also recently left Southampton to manage Tottenham – taught him not only how to play as a striker but also how to improve his game when up front on his own.

“It is quite the journey. The way it has gathered momentum, it’s frightening,” Lambert told The Telegraph.

“Everything went my way at Southampton and each manager that came in improved me massively and especially Mauricio. He taught me how to be a different kind of player and I think that’s helping now.

“I never really got taught to be a striker in the first place and then I never got taught how to be a lone striker. He taught me how to be the lone striker and the thing that I was doing wrong most was the fact I thought I had to show for everyone on the pitch.

“Whoever had the ball, I felt I had to run over and show for the ball, get on the ball. He was saying ‘take your time’ and ‘wait until the right people have got on to the ball’ like Adam Lallana and others further up the pitch. After that, I had an understanding of how to play that position a lot better.”

Lambert is a boyhood supporter of Liverpool and spent five years at the club’s academy, leaving when he was 15, and is now excited at being able to finally prove himself at Anfield.

He continued: “I wasn’t expecting a chance at Liverpool… now that I’ve got it I will do everything to not let it go and I am more than confident that I will take the chance and I will be able to improve my game again.

“I’ve done that every season. I’m going to do everything I can to get onto the next level now. Even though I’m 32 I feel like a kid again. The fact that I’m playing under Brendan Rodgers and for Liverpool, I just can’t wait.”

The Liverpool skipper felt that the Central American outfit should have had more than just Brayan Beckeles sent off after a physical face-off in Miami

England captain Steven Gerrard believes that the Three Lions were fortunate to escape their friendly with Honduras with no injuries following a bruising encounter.
A number of the Central American players made some aggressive challenges, with Brayan Beckeles sent off for two bookable offences in the second period.

And Gerrard was particularly frustrated that Emilio Izaguirre wasn’t red carded for kicking the ball at a stricken Daniel Sturridge in the first half.

“I thought the refereeing was poor. They were doing stupid fouls, breaking up the play for no reason,” he told ITV.

“We’re frustrated but we’re relieved to come out unscathed. There were some horrific challenges going on out there.

“I don’t understand referees who see balls kicked into stomachs and not send them off. We’re relieved to come out of it with no injuries.

“A lot of the boys are frustrated but we’ve got a week to go to get ready.”

Gerrard was substituted at half-time in Miami to protect a slight groin strain, and he believes that the World Cup in Brazil will be much more about the squad given the extreme temperatures in South America.

“Everyone’s going to be important, the conditions out there mean it won’t be an 11-man tournament. These days we have better subs and a better squad.”