Quiet on here today. As Gerrard gets his 100th cap tonight,how do you rate the other 5 who have achieved this? Here is mine.I was fortunate to see them all. Bobby Charlton - 106 caps Bobby Moore - 108 caps Billy Wright - 105 caps Peter Shilton - 125 caps David Beckham - 115 caps No doubt few will agree.
I would rate them all streets ahead of "diver" Gerrard! Don't like the man, decent footballer but nothing special!
I only really caught the end of Billy Wright's career and of course we didn't get to see the games televised in those days so I can't judge him fairly. A bit like Duncan Edwards. I only saw one game of his and he was good but I wouldn't like to say he was a great. I just have to take others words for that. Bobby Moore was one of the greatest ever footballers, per se. Defenders never get much credit. Bobby Charlton was a real world class player and one you would pay to watch. Peter Shilton would have had 180 caps if it weren't for Clemence, another world class keeper, being around in teh same era. Second best keeper ever behind Banks. I'l put Billy Wright here. David Beckham was as much a marketing tool as a footballer so my judgement might be clouded but he doesn't get close to the aforementioned. Steven Gerard is a very good player but personally I have never seen him as World class.
I agree, apart from 'look at me' Beckham, as Redruth has said, his latter England career was more for the publicity, and the caps were engineered for him! There will never be another Bobby Moore, he was 10 David Beckhams, and more dedicated to playing for his country just for the football, and not to promote hair gel and underpants!!!!!
OT, but international related, as expected Stephen whitakker is named in the Scotland team vs Luxembourg tonight
Would have to agree... to some degree at least. I never quite got the hubbub around Gerrard. He's a very talented player but he relies on sheer athleticism with his guts and thunder style approach which is useful in the Premier league, particularly when you are a big fish in a (Not so big) pond at Liverpool. I have always thought he would be better suited as an attacking midfield player or striker because he leaves gaps in midfield with his lung busting charges in every direction for 90 minutes and soon his engine will start to fade, which is his biggest asset by a mile. Never been overly suited for International football but with the way the national side has been for the past few years his workrate has swayed a lot of people into thinking he is a world beater but frankly when he plays it disrupts the balance of the team. Mind you he has scored some absolute worldy's in his career some of which we'll be watching for many many years to come
I used to rate Gerrard and some of his performances for Liverpool were truly outstanding. At times he could turn a game around. I now think he is an arrogant pr*ck and this is actually how he is, when I found this out I was surprised and disappointed. Messers Moore and Charlton were a class apart from these modern day wan*ers.
In the 'old days, there weren't so many friendlies, so todays achievment of 100 caps, has, for me anyway, been cheapened.
All of them above Stevie G - he's a good club footballer and does give his all for his country but nowhere near the others (and i'd include beckham in that) - shows the standard of our international team really. would have been very interesting to see him at a 'top club' as ibrahamovic says, to see if he would have cut it in a chelsea / arsenal / Man utd. i have my doubts.
Only ever saw Beckham play so can't really comment too much on the others. As for Gerrard, I've been saying he should be dropped from the side since the two friendlies before the Euro's. In his mind, he's still 20 years old and capable of everything he was able to do ten years ago. The last eight or nin games he's played for England he's been one of the worst on the pitch. He's misplaced passes, tried too many 'hollywood' passes that end up nowhere near their intended target, got himself sent off and been at fault for a couple of goals, but for some reason the press refuse to acknowledge it. For example, the 1-1 draw against Ukraine saw him sent off for two silly yellows and was responsible for the goal they scored, but every single report rated him as one of the best on the pitch because he made a good goal line clearance and he put himself about the pitch. The likes of him, Cole, Terry, Lampard and to a lesser extent, Rooney have been under-performing for England for a long time, but managers are too afraid to drop them, so they just carry on as they are.
It seems unique to England that you can't celebrate the great players you've had without tearing them apart. Gerrard is up there.
I kind of agree with this point. he is a very good player, and it is almost impossible to compare players from different eras, Moore might even be ripped to shreads by Holt!
Those players wouldn't last an hour in today's game I imagine. Obviously it's a silly comparison between eras - people tend to favour older players because history forgets their flaws, and in the past the game was slower, perhaps less quality throughout the world etc.
Shilton has to be the most technically gifted GK that England has ever had. He wasn't particularly tall, but my word he had skills. If he was 6ft4 he'd have been the greatest GK of all time.
Greatest of all time, or greatest English GK of all time skipper. In my eyes, Yashin holds that honour and always will. Even better than Banks.
I think you are being silly to say they would not last an hour. They would train differently and be equally as fit and with their ability they would probably make modernplayers look stupid. Joe Hart has now made 3 mistakes in his last two internationals and is called World Class. Bobby Moore was called slow but Shawcross looked like a sloth tonight and doesn't have any class to make up for it.
Spot on Maestro, the "Man in Black" is legend! I'm so glad that I'm old enough to have seen him play!
Undoubtedly Hart isn't worldclass, at least not all the time. He's 'very good' for sure. Shawcross has waited this long for a reason I fear. Fair point about them training the same, but I'm sure you get my point. You can't really compare over long time periods. On topic - Gerrard had a pretty good game tonight (Sterling too)!
I think Gerrard is overrated, I actually don't really see the hype myself. Decent player but never been world class in an England shirt in my opinion. Bit off topic, so I apologize but I don't really understand why we put effort in for Jenkinson to have committed to England, I don't rate him. Walker, Richard and Clyne will boss the right back position in the coming years. Wales can have Shawcross. Christ, I think Norris Cole could have gotten to Ibrahimovic quicker on the second goal. The team that played today, I think the best England players coming through are Zaha, Wilshere and Sterling. Seen some good signs from Welbeck though, whenever her puts on the England shirt. I also though Caulker was decent today, when he came off Ibrahimovich seemed to find a lot more space. One final thing, we should have had Osman in the England team years a go, such a good player. I actually think he is really unlucky, gone completely under the radar.
