LOL @ Gerrard

[cmonurz]

Whilst Barry is a fairly decent player, I think he's one of these fashionable players of the moment. We've seen it with the likes of Crouch, when he had a decent spell for England and club like Barry had this season. Ultimately they're a dissapointment and I feel the same will happen to Garry Barry.

Disagree, Barry has been one the main reasons Villa have been a mid-table side for so long and not real relegation candidates. He has consistently stood out for a number of years. Crouch on the other hand had one good season at Southampton.

[PlasticRoyale]

Does anyone agree with me that Gerrards passing is actually quite poor for a top rated midfielder. He always looks for the long diagonal

[cmonurz]

Yep, the two yard sideways pass is a much better alternative, just ask Frank.

[Sarah Star]

Does anyone agree with me that Gerrards passing is actually quite poor for a top rated midfielder. He always looks for the long diagonal

He plays well for Liverpool, but never seems to be able to do the same for his country. I don't know why. He has his moments though.

[Royal Rother]

They first met during schoolboy football days when they established an enduring friendship....

[cmonurz]

Does anyone agree with me that Gerrards passing is actually quite poor for a top rated midfielder. He always looks for the long diagonal

He plays well for Liverpool, but never seems to be able to do the same for his country. I don't know why. He has his moments though.

Like all England players, and it’s the primary cause imho of the lack of success of this ‘golden generation’ is that none of the players seem able to replicate their club form simply because their national team-mates aren’t where their club team-mates would normally be, or making the runs that they normally do. Frank never seems to have anyone to pass to for England, and Gerrard’s pass completion is often woeful; Rooney normally just runs around in circles growling at people for an hour or so; and without Beckham in the side, no-one passes to Michael Owen. It’s awful, to be honest.

Compare that to, for example, how quickly Torres adapted to English football and yet how well he still plays in a fluid Spain side, which couldn’t be more different to his club team.

[Sarah Star]

That just about sums it up for me too, Cmonurz.

[g]

Does anyone agree with me that Gerrards passing is actually quite poor for a top rated midfielder. He always looks for the long diagonal

He plays well for Liverpool, but never seems to be able to do the same for his country. I don't know why. He has his moments though.

Nobody knows why but 67 caps later he is still chosen.

[Sarah Star]

Yes, strange isn't it? You keep expecting him to do better - and sometimes he does for a few moments - but never as well as he plays for Liverpool.

[cmonurz]

Funny how on the one hand HNA? pours scorn over the suggestion that various players play in midfield for England (Scott Parker – not good enough, Gareth Barry – a one-season wonder, Tom Huddlestone – fat, slow and not even good enough for Reading, Hargreaves – negative, doesn’t tackle, Jenas – over-rated), yet on the other it suggests it is strange that Gerrard and/or Lampard have so many England caps.

As much as from that list I rate Barry and Huddlestone, I’d sooner have Gerrard in the team if available. FWIW, I think Hargreaves and Gerrard should be our central midfield pairing, with Owen playing his new Newcastle role just behind Rooney.

[g]

I wonder when Lampard will get a chance to run the midfield alongside Barry without Stevie G involved at all, though the typical England scapegoat will just be easily blamed for all the shortcomings for England. I never had a problem with any new midfielders given a chance, it's been more a problem for the manager to have the bollocks to drop a player. When it comes to popularity with the media and plastics, dropping an overpaid fat whiney Chelsea player is a more popular decision than a scouser born and bred for life liverpool legend.

Lampard, Gerrard, Jenas, Barry, Scholes, Carrick, Hargreaves,etc. England are not short on talent.

[Royal Rother]

Carrick, Barry and Hargreaves for me. Dump the others - we have never done anything worthwhile with them in the team so might just as well give up on them and start again.

Gerrard is the current generation's John Barnes. (79 caps he got! )

[cmonurz]

As you mentioned him, Scholes has of course honourably ‘retired’ from international football. Big minus points against Scholes (and Shearer for that matter) for this.

On the midfield, I think Jenas is under-rated, Carrick the opposite. But when the England squad are meeting up for only a week here or there, the management are obviously going to look at Premier League performances, as well as fit to the England team, which is why Gerrard carries so much favour. As impressive as Lampard is, he is part of an excellent Chelsea midfield; Gerrard on the other hand often single-handedly carries the Liverpool attack. IMHO, at their best Gerrard’s influence on a game is far greater than Lampard’s, and that is what successive England managers have hoped to get from ‘Stevie G’.

As I wrote above though – without intelligent running up front (Torres >>>>> Rooney), or players bursting forward wide (Babel and Kuyt for Liverpool >>>>> Cole and Wright-Philips for England).

[Hoop Blah]

Funny how on the one hand HNA? pours scorn over the suggestion that various players play in midfield for England (Scott Parker – not good enough, Gareth Barry – a one-season wonder, Tom Huddlestone – fat, slow and not even good enough for Reading, Hargreaves – negative, doesn’t tackle, Jenas – over-rated), yet on the other it suggests it is strange that Gerrard and/or Lampard have so many England caps.

As much as from that list I rate Barry and Huddlestone, I’d sooner have Gerrard in the team if available. FWIW, I think Hargreaves and Gerrard should be our central midfield pairing, with Owen playing his new Newcastle role just behind Rooney.

You were doing so well until the last sentence!

I've said for the last 2 or 3 years how the side needs to be built around Rooney playing 'in the hole' and with Gerrard given the licence to burst forward from midfield. Rooney needs to have someone ahead of him to give him the space and foil to play his natural and most influential football. We saw against USA an improvement over the Rooney's last few England performances and the potential that a team giving Rooney and Gerrard the freedom to express themselves can hold.

For me Hargreaves is the natural player to sit alongside Gerrard and give him the freedom that he gets for Liverpool. Barry is pushing him close in a way that Carrick has never really managed (in my view at least) and perhaps a combination of those three is the future for those games where we have to be a little more cagey.

Owen is our best natural source of goals. He can't run away from defenders in the way he used to, but as and when he's match fit he still provides the best partner for Rooney.

[cmonurz]

I don’t disagree – it’s whether Owen will get the supply he needs as (effectively) a lone striker to carry on scoring goals for England. He is in a similar situation at Newcastle, where switching to a deeper position has found him in more goalscoring positions, arriving late, whereas Owen’s goals used to be based either on his pace, beating defenders to the ball, or Lineker-esque poaching.

If Owen is going to play as the forward-most striker then Rooney needs to start finding him with the ball, because we can’t simply rely on Beckham/Bentley to put one on Owen’s head twice a game. Rooney is a class act but for England tends to run with his head down.

[Apocalypse Now]

Rooney doesn't run with his head down for either Man Utd or England. He looks for the pass everytime. If anything he needs to run with his head down more.

[Kes]

Does anyone agree with me that Gerrards passing is actually quite poor for a top rated midfielder. He always looks for the long diagonal

Gerrard had a shocker last night. He gives the ball away too much for international football.

[Apocalypse Now]

Liverpool don't actually need Barry. They have Alonso who is better and they play 4231 now which would mean Barry would end up alongside Mascharano or on the wing. Liverpool need goalscoring wingers who can beat defenders. The only possible reason for them signing Barry would be for his set pieces, which is something they were very weak on last season.

In a week where theres been a row over the conduct of Real Madrid and Man Utd over tapping up, for Gerrard to come out with these comments is stupid and makes Liverpool look desperate.

[papereyes]

Liverpool don't actually need Barry. They have Alonso who is better and they play 4231 now which would mean Barry would end up alongside Mascharano or on the wing. Liverpool need goalscoring wingers who can beat defenders. The only possible reason for them signing Barry would be for his set pieces, which is something they were very weak on last season.

In a week where theres been a row over the conduct of Real Madrid and Man Utd over tapping up, for Gerrard to come out with these comments is stupid and makes Liverpool look desperate.

or they're prepared to let Alonso go for someone who is a touch stronger and more direct?

Its their wingers that get me - Benayoun is a midfielder who is played wide in England because of his size, Babel keeps cutting inside rather than looking for crosses, Kuyt a striker whose work-rate and lack of finesse sees him wide, Kewell .... Surely its in their interests to either go for two wingers that can beat their man and cross or change that part of the side. A left-sided Kuyt might work, but then they'd have to be fantastically creative through the middle.

I also don't see why its not tapping up. Maybe O'Neill should make a bid for Gerrard. Villa have the money with their new owner.

[cmonurz]

The whole playing strikers on the wings thing has been irritating me for years, its become a bit of a trend. Remember Pardew’s experiment with Cureton?