Steven Gerrard - England great?

Set for his 100th cap next week to become the sixth Englishman to do so - can you name the other five?

Anyway, my point is for a player who admits he plays better for his club, was one of the so called 'golden generation' who won exactly nothing and was probably half of the England's teams biggest problem over the last ten years (how do you play Lampard and Gerrard successfully in the same team?) - can he really be thought of as a true great?

I don't think so - do you?

Spoiler:

Sluffy wrote:Set for his 100th cap next week to become the sixth Englishman to do so - can you name the other five?

Anyway, my point is for a player who admits he plays better for his club, was one of the so called 'golden generation' who won exactly nothing and was probably half of the England's teams biggest problem over the last ten years (how do you play Lampard and Gerrard successfully in the same team?) - can he really be thought of as a true great?

I don't think so - do you?

Agree, Sluff


Good, but not great

On his day he's a superb midfielder.

but as with the rest of the England squad he's overrated a ridiculous amount by the bias english media.

He was apparently "the best in the world" a few years.... haaaahahahahahahahhahahah.

He's also a diver, and an extremely dirty player.

He also twats DJ's who don't play the music he likes!

Shilton, seaman?

Billy Wright, Shilton, Bobby Charlton, Beckham???

Answers shown in spoiler at the bottom of the first post in the thread.

Hipster_Nebula wrote:On his day he's a superb midfielder.

but as with the rest of the England squad he's overrated a ridiculous amount by the bias english media.

He was apparently "the best in the world" a few years.... haaaahahahahahahahhahahah.

He's also a diver, and an extremely dirty player.

Not an England great no.

He was the best midfielder of his type in his prime though, the guy was unbelievable and that's coming from somebody who loves to hate Liverpool.

His prime didn't last as long as it should because of injuries but the guy was quality from around 2005-2008. Not overrated.

I wouldn't call him overrated, hes an unbelievable player.

But to be called a great in any team you usually to win something, or at least have an outstanding performance record (like our very own Nat ), and with England he never has.





Liverpool great but not an England great.

bwfc1874 wrote:

Hipster_Nebula wrote:On his day he's a superb midfielder.

but as with the rest of the England squad he's overrated a ridiculous amount by the bias english media.

He was apparently "the best in the world" a few years.... haaaahahahahahahahhahahah.

He's also a diver, and an extremely dirty player.

Not an England great no.

He was the best midfielder of his type in his prime though, the guy was unbelievable and that's coming from somebody who loves to hate Liverpool.

His prime didn't last as long as it should because of injuries but the guy was quality from around 2005-2008. Not overrated.

yes overrated because he was routinely labelled the best midfielder in the world by the media.

Which is, bollocks IMO.

Hipster_Nebula wrote:

yes overrated because he was routinely labelled the best midfielder in the world by the media.

Which is, bollocks IMO.

To be fair his club record is amazing, and he almost single handedly won them that Champions League Final.

Up until the last few years there haven't really been many teams in the world throughout his career which he couldn't have walked into.

He may not have been the very best midfielder of the last decade but hes in the top 10 or even 5.

And there were definitely periods in his career where he could at least be considered to be the best midfielder at that time.

England great, no, but then again the we haven't won a tap at international level since 1966 so nobody past that point can really be a great.

As for club level he is immense IMO, I hate liverpool but apart from the premier leagie he has won everything so is a great at that level. Probably the best long range passer in the league for the past 10 years.

Hipster_Nebula wrote:

bwfc1874 wrote:

Hipster_Nebula wrote:On his day he's a superb midfielder.

but as with the rest of the England squad he's overrated a ridiculous amount by the bias english media.

He was apparently "the best in the world" a few years.... haaaahahahahahahahhahahah.

He's also a diver, and an extremely dirty player.

Not an England great no.

He was the best midfielder of his type in his prime though, the guy was unbelievable and that's coming from somebody who loves to hate Liverpool.

His prime didn't last as long as it should because of injuries but the guy was quality from around 2005-2008. Not overrated.

yes overrated because he was routinely labelled the best midfielder in the world by the media.

Which is, bollocks IMO.

I disagree, I don't think you can dismiss it as bollocks to easily to be honest, he was brilliant for a few years, 05-07 probably his best.

Off the top of my head can't think of a midfielder who achieved more in club football during this period?

He's a great player that would grace any team, but because he's so versatile and reliable has been messed about by England throughout his career. Instead of commanding a position (attacking mid) for years on end as he should have, he's been asked to accommodate other players, play out of position and generally forfeit his own success for that of the team - which he has done willingly and with good grace. In that sense, he's an England great for me.

One of the original overpaid ponces.

You wouldn't have him in your team then?

wanderlust wrote:You wouldn't have him in your team then?

No. Good player on his day, but the fact he has 100 caps shows just how shite the England team has been in recent years.

I suggest the England team that plays Sweden tonight wouldn't have even made a top 100 England players 30 years ago.

Natasha Whittam wrote:

wanderlust wrote:You wouldn't have him in your team then?

No. Good player on his day, but the fact he has 100 caps shows just how shite the England team has been in recent years.

I suggest the England team that plays Sweden tonight wouldn't have even made a top 100 England players 30 years ago.

He would walk into any England team at any time on his performances for his club.

If we'd used him correctly in his prime we would of got far more out of him for England too.

The 'everyone and everything is crap' theme is getting pretty boring now, you need a new angle!

No ones, well I'm not, denying he's a top top class player, great passer of the football and a terrific tackler but "best in the world" is simply not true.

Just because he dived in the champions league final doesn't make him a world star for me.

His best performance was the FA (?) cup final vs West Ham, unplayable that day.

Who was the best midfielder in the world 05-07? I really can't think of anybody that tops Gerrard.

He achieved far more than a dive in the champions league final. Being man of the match in that final for one, playing right back for part of the game.

He had everything, this threads made me realise just how good he was!