ADAM CROZIER was the man who dubbed Frank Lampard and company England’s golden generation.

“And look what happened to him,” said Lampard of the former FA chief executive, who is now grappling with the difficulties of running the Royal Mail.

Lampard believes the label of golden generation applied to the likes of himself, John Terry, David Beckham, Ashley Cole, Rio Ferdinand and Steven Gerrard has contributed to a decade of underachievement.

“It was frustrating. As players we just went out and played but it kept getting mentioned,” he added.

“By calling us that it was almost as if people were waiting for us to fail. The golden generation should only be said once you have won something.

The team that won the World Cup in 1966 was a golden generation.

“It was said much too early about us but people picked up on it. We are very talented individuals but we have not made the most of it. We have all held our hands up to that many times.”

That familiar feeling of disappointment returned in the Ukraine on Saturday as England lost their 100 per cent World Cup qualifying record.

The difference this time was an eight-match winning sequence that had already booked their place in South Africa with two matches to spare.

On the biggest stage of all, it has provided Lampard and friends with one last opportunity to finally prove they are as good as first suggested.

“Now is a great chance,” he admitted. “I am not saying we are going to win the World Cup but we are in better shape.

“The team is working much better as a unit than it has done in the past. We have good individuals, we are experienced and we have World Cups behind us.

“But the proof will be in the pudding. It is up to us to take all those plus points and use them next summer.”

It is obvious that for England to triumph under the leadership of Fabio Capello, they need that golden generation, plus a more recent addition in Wayne Rooney, to be at the peak of their powers.

For Lampard, that means drive and energy from midfield, plus a decent goals return.

Considering his prolific output for Chelsea over the past five seasons, it seems strange the 31-year-old should suddenly stop scoring just as his drought with England has come to an end.

Yet surprisingly, Lampard’s only goals for Chelsea came in the Community Shield and from the penalty spot against Sunderland, whereas with England a run of three in 27 internationals has been replaced by six in eight.

Statistics can be manipulated to suit any purpose, but the brutal truth is Lampard, Rooney and Gerrard must score because Emile Heskey almost certainly will not, whether he leaves Aston Villa in January or not.

“Emile is not a prolific scorer but he does a lot more,” said Lampard.

“The results we have had when he has been in the team are well documented. When you ask the other strikers who they like to play with, Emile is always mentioned.

“If that means the focus is on me to score with England more often it is no problem.

“People like myself and Steven Gerrard have scored goals for our clubs. There should be pressure on us to do it for England. We put pressure on ourselves to score goals.”

All the remaining members of Capello’s squad did some training yesterday ahead of tomorrow’s encounter with Belarus.

After sending Wayne Rooney back to Manchester United on Sunday night, Capello will be under pressure not to take chances with Gerrard, who limped out of Saturday’s defeat at the Dnipro Arena with a groin injury, so Aston Villa’s Gabriel Agbonlahor could start his first competitive game.

It seems Rio Ferdinand will be involved too, with Capello handing him a chance to atone for the error which ended up with Robert Green becoming the first England goalkeeper to be sent off.

Ferdinand’s critics have argued it is the latest in a growing list of mistakes that point to a lessening of his powers.

But Lampard feels such talk is well wide of the mark.

“The universal view is that Rio has been one of the most consistent central defenders in Europe over the last five years,” he said.

“He would be the first one to say he made a mistake on Saturday, but I would much rather make a mistake against Ukraine than when the big games start.

“That is when you need big players. Rio has played in two World Cups and been outstanding in both of them.

That says it all really.”