I think you'd probably have to dip into the archives to find a complete footballer better than Belligham. Beckenbauer or Gullit spring to mind, but I never saw either play (saw Gullit at Chelsea but he was well past his prime). Another Dutchman who deserves a mention is Rijkaard.
Lahm and Zanetti would be my more recent calls. Neither scored much, but they were both very good at virtually everything else. Technically excellent, great physical condition, versatile and intelligent.
Gascoigne, albeit for a short while. Could tackle, shoot and head the ball as well as being one of the best controllers of a football whilst running I've seen.
Romelu Lukaku has now scored as many international goals as Pele. He's had a lot of stick, but 77 in 110 for Belgium is pretty extraordinary. Their next highest scorers are Hazard with 33 and Voorhoof and van Himst with 30.
I was watching lastnights game with the sound off (blame Dublin) and it took me the speed and accuracy of the England passing at times , sort the centre of the defence and we have a chance
I think that England's depth is pretty extraordinary in virtually every position. I've mentioned that I think it's a bit short with regards to keepers, but even that's not awful. There's still 4 good ones and then a bunch that aren't too bad. Centre-half shouldn't be an issue for Southgate. Stones and White were absent last night and he still had Dunk, Guehi, Tomori, Colwill and Slabhead. Mings, Coady, Chalobah, Kelly, Adarabioyo, Godfrey, Worrall, Gomez, Tarkowski, Konza, Kilman... There's loads in the Premier League to chose from.
The question is how many of them are getting regular starting XI game time. For the attacking players not a problem, for regular MF back to GK is another story.
Lots of defenders are playing every week. Tyrick Mitchell's played every minute for Palace at left-back and wasn't selected, for example. Rico Henry's another player in the same position that's done the same. Dan Burn would be another option, though he's considerably older than the other two. Colwill, Kilman and Konsa have all played the full 90 in each of their clubs games. Tarkowski was subbed off for a minute in one game. Worrall missed about 15 minutes.
It’s surprising he’s as good as he is without pace - it’s what usually gives top players the edge, even if it’s just a short burst over a few yards, allied to a low centre of gravity enabling the player to change direction quickly at pace (which Kane doesn’t have either). He’s just so clinical. He’s the best of himself all the time. Rarely can you say Kane’s out of form. His reading of the game, positional sense, touch, control and execution of the shot are usually spot on. He has vision too as some of his passes show.
Harry Maguire's mum has attacked fans and the media for picking on her boy. Yeah, that'll really help.
please log in to view this image Now we've just got to sign a Palestinian and we've got world peace sorted.
What I hate more is Infantino's self-righteous smugness. He projects this aura of being inclusive, open-minded and forward thinking but decisions made under his tenure have surpassed even the very worst under Blatter. At least the Swiss was openly a money greedy scumbag, rude, aloof and indifferent. Infantino is a corporate snake. "In a divided world, FIFA and football are uniting." Sick bag, please.
Staging games in South America makes sense, given it's the centenary tournament ...but given it's a centenary tournament, why not announce it as such years in advance so we avoid half the tournament being on one side of the Atlantic and the other half being on the other?
