Jump to content

The England Thread


Pilko

Recommended Posts

And how well did that turn out for England? We get Frank and Stevie wanting to make the same runs and not quite fitting into the same team. That's been England problem over the years, much more than anything else. The best players did not fit together, at all, they were just good enough on their own to win qualifying games.

 

Lampard - Needed a 4-3-3 at his peak to give him the freedom he had for Chelsea

Gerrard - Benitez had it right, his best Role was behind a single striker (Torres) in a 4-2-3-1, but he couldn't player there for England because..

Rooney - Needed to play as a 10 in a front 2 or he became isolated, and came too deep.

Beckham and Owen - Both pure 4-4-2 players, Beckham needed his right back for the overlap, Owen needed his Heskey to do the physical stuff.

 

With the wonderful value of hindsight, what we needed was a horses for courses approach and selecting the lineup/team of players that bring the best out in each other, for the benefit of the team. Players like Michael Carrick.

Link to post
Share on other sites

He retired in 2004 when the likes of Carrick hadn't even made much of a name for himself.

 

we'd been playing him on the wing and shit, he'd have stayed longer if it was his team imo.

 

anyway fair enough I'll step away

Link to post
Share on other sites

Carrick being widely praised seems to be a very contempary opinion as far as I can tell since everybody got fed up with Lampard/Gerrard and it was in vogue to have a 'controlling' central midfielder in international football. That ignores the fact Carrick is simply not that good. He's one of a number of stable but unspectacular players Fergie managed to lift ridiculous performances out of throughout his career as far as I'm concerned.

 

Carrick is one of those 'pulls the strings' midfielders who will always be overrated by nerds who think they can read the game better than everyone else. He's alright though.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Carrick has been a great footballer. Not in that top Scholes bracket but just below.

 

No way is Carrick 'just below' Scholes. Carrick has beeen/is a good player but he's nowhere near Scholes

Link to post
Share on other sites

Carrick has been a great footballer. Not in that top Scholes bracket but just below.

 

No way is Carrick 'just below' Scholes. Carrick has beeen/is a good player but he's nowhere near Scholes

 

For me personally - there hasn't been too many English midfielders who have looked so comfortable in the latter stages of the CL so frequently. And not just running around but helping to control a tie. His reading of the game is impressive. He has great footballing intelligence. While not physical defensively he's good and we know his passing is quick and varied.

 

Because of his style he should still have a few years in him.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Guest Howaythetoon

Carrick has always been an underrated player, an English Xabi alonso if you like. I would have had him in my England side in his pomp playing just in front of the back four as a deep rooted playmaker/spoiler type with Lampard further forward. Gerrard consigned to the... bench!

 

Scholes... best English footballer since Gazza in my opinion.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Thing is Carrick has had plenty of chances for England.  Has not performed to his club level, even at his peak. Time to move on from him .

 

And he'll be nearly 35 by Euro 2016, clearly not a player to be building the midfield around for the long-term.

 

Carrick has been criminally underused by England for near on a decade however now, given his age and reliability issues it's almost pointless including him if they're attempting to 'build for the future'.

 

So yeah, what Disco said 3 days ago. :lol:

Link to post
Share on other sites

Carrick's inclusion is a reflection of the fact that our other CM players tend to be attacking rather than defensive, and we need someone in an anchoring position. I don't think Henderson or Delph fit the bill - Mason is worth a look.

 

Even Carrick isn't ideally suited, and of course we need to bring someone else through.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.
×
×
  • Create New...