Chelsea to join 'alltime greats

Chelsea can become one of the best sides the world has ever seen, midfielder Frank Lampard said.

"It's a tall order to become the best side ever, but the players are hungry and we aim to put Chelsea up with the great AC Milan and Liverpool sides of the past," Lampard said.

"We definitely feel we have the potential to do that because we have a young squad and the funds in place to back it up," he told reporters at Chelsea's Stamford Bridge ground.

Lampard said Chelsea's players were laughing after Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger criticised them for the their long-ball tactics following the champions' 2-1 victory over his team in the Community Shield match in Cardiff on Sunday.

He said Wenger's attack on Chelsea's style of play was a sign that he is showing the strain of trying to compete with a team that finished 12 points above Arsenal to claim its first league title for 50 years in May.

"We laughed at the criticism we got after the Community Shield," the England midfielder said.

"We felt it was a sign we had got under someone's skin a little bit."

"There's two things you can talk about when it comes to the long ball. One is the old Wimbledon days and the other is when you can mix it up, play very good football but then play a longer ball of quality."

"I think in the Champions League we showed we can do that and people made a big deal that we did it, but it's not a sign of a lack of quality but more the fact we have different qualities," Lampard said.

"It has got to the stage where every bit of criticism we receive we use to make us stronger. We get it from a lot of angles now and hope to answer it all by getting more success."

-- ------------------------------------------------------- --------------------THIS WEEKS CD PLAY----------------- ------------------------------------------------------- ----------- Ministry Of Sound Ibiza Annual 2005 ------- -------------------------------------------------------