Lampard's playing time will be monitored, says Mourinho

The Blues boss is as confident as ever in the midfielder's ability but is mindful of managing his workload, comparing his plans to how he used to utilize Claude Makelele.

Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho says that he will monitor Frank Lampard's playing time over the coming season.

The veteran signed a new 12-month contract last season, following a campaign in which he broke Bobby Tambling's goal-scoring record for the Premier League club, but Mourinho believes that a pragmatic approach is best to maximize the Blues hero's impact in 2013-14.

"With Frank, the role doesn't have to change," Mourinho told reporters. "What has to change is the way we analyse every competition.

"With Frank, before, we didn't have to analyze - it was simple: every match, he plays. I believe he is the same player but there is a difference. He is 35 and the time needed to recover from match to match is not the same for a man of 25 as a man of 35. That's the only point.

"[Lampard] knows what I did, for example, with [Claude] Makelele here in the last two years of his spell at the club.

"He knows I know how to do it with players of his age because, at the end of the day, we have to be just clever, because the player is the same.

"I like players without looking at their birth certificates. Performance determines how good you are, not your identity card or birth certificate. It's about performance, nothing else."

Lampard made 29 appearances in the Premier League last season, scoring 15 times to move him to 203 goals for the club.