The Eternal Question: Lampard and/or Gerrard?
To me, to you
With enforced absences making their meetings in the England some what fleeting of late, the Steven Gerrard/Frank Lampard debate has reared its ugly head ahead of the Kazakhstan match this weekend. As far as I am concerned the debate should have been over a long time ago.
Gerrard and Lampard are undoubtedly England’s two most talented attacking midfielders (for their club sides at least), but they are incompatible together. That does not take anything away from either player as an individual - it is simply indicative of the fact they the do the same sort of things on a football pitch. You could argue that David James and Robert Green - last weekend excepted - are the best goalkeepers in the country at the moment, but you would not expect Fabio Capello to fit them into the same England team.
That is an exaggeration, of course, but the fact remains that they have numerous opportunities to play together and they have rarely done it successfully. Lampard is now into his thirties. How much longer do you hold out hope that they will one day click together? Lampard has given an, erm, frank account of the duo’s recent England performances.
He said: “If we are both honest, and Stevie is a very honest man in the way he speaks about things, we both haven’t played as well for England as we have for our clubs, particularly over the last two seasons. That’s the case whether we’ve played together or separately. We have to try and make it work.”
That just gives me a nasty sense of deja vu. It is not a long-term option. The only remote chance of them playing effectively together is if they both played behind a lone striker and you built the team around them. Unfortunately, England do not have a particularly suitable lone striker and most of the squad’s heads would explode at the thought of not playing 4-4-2.
Gerrard’s versatility unfortunately always counts against him. Various pundits are calling for him to be deployed on the left, on the right, or even at right-back. To be fair he is probably one of the best right-backs in the world, but he has not played there for years and it is a waste of his attacking talents. Personally, I would like to see them competing for the one slot. By their own admission, neither has produced their best form for England recently so why not see whether the prospect of not adding to their England caps shakes them into life.
In any case, the debate ought to be academic for now. If Lampard and Gerrard cannot play together against Kazakhstan then neither of them deserve to be in the team anyway.
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neither of them deserve to be in the team? that’s pretty harsh. I don’t agree on that point, but I do think you are right in saying that a little competition never hurt anyone. I think having only the best one play is smart, as it will shock them into working a little harder to stay ahead of the other, but they should certainly be on the team because as you said, they are England’s two most talented attacking mids.
they shouldnt just start together simple
i ve always believed that this duo are only as good as they are for both club and country based on the quality of players the have got to play with.
lamps and gerard has proven time and time again that they can single handedly carry their respective clubs on their shoulders. we ve not seen this yet on the international stage, they have not been able to click when playing together. only b’cos no coach has suceeded in making them play together for england, perharps capello will make it happen this time around.
I’ve never understood why a five man midfield can’t be tried out. Sacrifice a striker and put in a defensive minded midfielder such as Carrick who is also able to spray some passes. 4-5-1 sounds defensive but with Carrick or a similar player covering the holes both Lampard and Gerrard can be unleashed. Who knows, maybe it still wouldn’t work, but I think the main problem now is that neither of them fully get to play to their strengths.
How can u say hey cant be in the team? Lampard is haviing a great time and I thiink that he will be our guide to the world cup as in the last one. And gerros, he is giving everything in the pitch every match. I just think that the formation doesnt let them play.
they should try something like this.:
Barry Lampard
Becks Gerrard Walcott
or:
Barry
Gerrard Lampard
Beckham Walcott
Just to clarify as a couple of you have taken something out of context, I said if they couldn’t play together against Kazakhstan then neither of the deserve to be in the team ie there shouldn’t be too many defensive commitments for the midfield so there is no excuse for them not both playing their own game.
Sven n Smiley Steves problem is that the picked Englands best 11 players, not the best player for each of the 11 positions which is what Capello seems to be doing at the moment with Heskey up the the top and he should do with Lampard and Gerrard. Theyre both best in the centre but they both can’t occupy the same place so just pick one of them. Simple as. Also, with Rooney and Owen, Rooney hasn’t had a stand out performance for England, atleast before the Croatia match, for a long time. Both Owen and Rooney have excelled when theyve played without the other and had Heskey infront of them. Owen was excepion against Israel and Russia at Wembley last year. I think it’s similar to Gerrard and Lampard. Play one of them, not both, if all the first choice players are fit, in this case Joe Cole (or Heskey in the Owen/Rooney argument). I do think we’ll get away with one of theyre lacklustre performances against Kazakhstan though.
Andrei: that would mean Rooney playing alone up front? nope that is not England’s forte of playing one men up front.
Most would say: Walcott, Gerrard, Lampard, SWP(Joe Cole injured) Rooney-Crouch
but if by half-time it is not working Capello should save himself by taking one of them off for Barry. it is not the score but if they are performing. as for the left midfield, i hope Ashley Young gets a chance ahead of SWP.
Really there is only one solution. Objectively ( without the Liverpool bias), Gerrard is the better football and has played classier football than Lampard for England. So where do you put Gerrard in the midfield ? On the right? Nah, that’s SWP spot, Bentley also fits there. On the left- again no…Joe Col is a class act there, Barry is the cover and Gerrard is very suspect in that position. Central midfield? Well, he himself stated that he likes this position best but..I think it’s not his best position. Behind the main striker..now that’s devilish. Rooney can have the same impact as Torres, that is to drag defenders and let the goal open to shots from the midfield. Defensive midfielder..yeah , he can do a good job there..but it’s criminal to lose his attacking power…plus carrik, hargreaves or barry can play there with ease. So I think there must be a 5 man midfield…. Cole on the left, SWP on the right, hargreaves n barry the holding midfielders, someone in the middl of midfield,n Gerrard as the second striker/free electron. The problem is that Lampard is very much selfish n his passin is not world class. good but not world class. I say barry in the middle, carrick n hargreaves holding, lampard on the bench..that should please everybody…particularly England fans. A 5-man midfiled just punishes everything. Plus that means there is sufficient cover for the left and right backs to go forward n cross. Well, in an ideal world, it would be great…In an ideal world, though, Germany would have won the Euro.Never mind, there’s still world cup 2010.
also in an ideal world, we (liverpool) would land bastian s. ( bayern munich bloke, name’s 2long 2 spell) in january…
now where 2 fit walcott? wait ? isn’t joe cole injured..dump that guy there.
You look at the England team and there’s only 1 major change Capello can make to change things. The defence more or less selscts itself. Up front it’s Rooney and whichever other (average) option is playing well.
Midfield is his canvas. Drop Lampard to the bench. Good player but let’s end the debate now. Lampard and Gerrard can’t play together. Gerrad in his attacking midfield role is better. How much more evidence do you need?
Gerrard with either Hargreaves or Carrick as the holding midfielder, Barry if they’re not available and 2 wide players (Cole, Downing, Bentley, Wright-Phillips, Lennon, Beckham).
4-4-2 with 2 wingers. Get on with it.
*Owen*
Wright-Philips
Rooney
Lampard Gerrard
Carrick
I don’t see any reason why England should avoid using a 4-3-3… Works for Barca doesn’t it? It would certainly go a long way towards helping Lampard and Gerrard work together; both are excellent crossers, so it makes sense to play them both on the wings, as attacking mids rather than SWP and Walcott. Rooney spreads the ball as a support striker in the middle well enough to pick up the slack, and SWP can still be used in a role that suits him better in front of goal. Lampard might have some trouble with this kind of switch, but I’m sure everybody else would benefit, especially Gerrard. With Carrick in the middle, you don’t lose a whole lot defensively either - its a win-win.
England have been training with a 4-3-3 formation so expect Lamps and Gerrard to start with Barry anchoring.
That makes sense… I kind of expected that Barry would start if they went to the 4-3-3, but being a Manchester fan, got to pull for Carrick
Mourinho wanted to bring Gerrard to Chelsea and play him with together with Lampard. Obviously the “Special One” saw something there the others didn’t or are failing to see.
This is the second time I have read an article in which someone’s argument for dropping either Gerrard or Lampard from the first 11 in England is underlined by Capello not fitting James and Green into the same squad, despite being the two best English players at their position (goalkeeper). Apples to oranges anyone? Why do I feel compelled to bring up the fact that the rules of football prevent a manager from playing two goalies, unless of course the manager is foolish enough to play one somewhere else? There are normally 3-4 midfielders on the pitch at a time and we’re talking about finding room for 2 players. While there is only 1 goalkeeping position so that demands the naming of 1 player for that position regardless of the manager’s preference. It’s not just an exaggeration as the article states, but a completely useless comparison. Obviously if the rules allowed then every manager would use two goalkeepers.
i am a liverpool supporter but i am not biased i have often looked into this and believe that their is a definite winner which is gerrard but lampard could be used if you look at some stats gerrard clearly comes out on top for examle:
Gerrard:
Defending:9
Passing:9
Shooting:9
Dribbling:8
Set Pieces:8
Pace:9
Vision:10
Total 54
Lampard:
Defending:6
Passing:7
Shooting:8
Dribbling:7
Set Pieces:7
Pace:6
Vision:8
Total:49
Gerrard shows to be better in every stat but for england for example people say Lampard but consider making Gerrard captain he has performed well in his past captaiing games
estonia for example in spain i think he scored two. for me GERRARD is a better player look at his Liverpool performances. Lampard is quality but cannot defend.
bear in mind england have never lost a game when they have both played for 90 mins though! Portugal was 120 that don’t count! hehehaha
i think the lampard/gerrard issue is a big lazy excuse of a reason to say that england dont play well
rooney and tevez are very very similar, and they play brilliantly together for united, and there are countless more examples
lampard and essien, lampard and ballack…
on match of the day, any highlights they show of this supposed terrible combination dont prove anything, one of the highlights was just a bad cross from wes brown, and then they just say over it, “look, gerrard and lampard not working together!”
also, people are saying that they dont have to pick one of them because they aren’t being paid 5 million a year like capello
NO! capello should be paid five million a year to make them play together, not just say, “ok, lamps and barry”, no, “gerrard and barry”, no, “lamps and barry…oh god my ehad hurts”. any monkey could do that
SEAN?
you dont support liverpool by any chance do you? lol
here are my version of stats
gerrard lampard
defending 7 6
passing 9 9
shooting 9 8
dribbling 8 8
set-pieces 8 8 (corners and indirect FK’s)
pace 8 7
vision 9 9
ok, gerrard is still slightly better in mine as well, but if you look at them stats, gerrard is 57/70 and lamps is 55/70…surely capello shoudl make players with them kind of stats play with each other