http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/fo...ers-does-rank-alongside-Frank-Lampard-Co.html 1) SIR BOBBY CHARLTON World Cup winner extraordinaire and still this country’s leading goalscorer 2) BRYAN ROBSON Captain Marvel for both Manchester United and England. 3) DUNCAN EDWARDS Rated by Charlton as greater than himself and may well have proved him right but for his premature death among other Busby Babes in the Munich air disaster. 4) PAUL SCHOLES The most deft feet to be allied to a computer of a brain in the modern era. 5) JOHNNY HAYNES The sublime passer who invented, with Fulham and England, the diagonal cross-field ball behind the full back and in so doing became this country’s first £100-a-week footballer. 6) PAUL GASCOIGNE The genius of this age, albeit ultimately the self-destructor of his own magical talent. 7) WILF MANNION The Pied Piper of Middlesbrough who would have won many more trophies with his club and played dozen more games for England had he not spent World War 11 fighting for his country. 8) RAICH CARTER The Sunderland ball conjuror who was the darling of the north-east. 9) FRANK LAMPARD The engine, the vision but above all more goals than many of the most renowned strikers have mustered. 10) STEVEN GERRARD Steven Gerrard has been a magnificent leader of Liverpool through good times and hard and has striven mightily for England in the teeth of adversity. Agree or disagree?
Lampard technically is not good enough. His workmanlike determination has brought him success and he deserves credit for that but he's never been the driving force or heartbeat in any successful team. He's not naturally talented and has had to work hard to get to where he is. Not sure that's enough to be in the top 10. Never seen Edwards or a couple of those others so can't comment. Gerrard tbf deserves to be there.
I disagree, yes Lampard has had to work for his success but you have to hand it to the guy, the amount of goals he has scored is unbelievable, he's never been a technically great player, but his ability to read a game, and make smart runs to score a lot of goals means he is deserving of a top 10 spot. I'd have him over Gerrard all day long. I personally feel Scholes should be higher up than he is. I watched most of Robsons career and whilst he was brilliant for us and a player I admire a lot Scholes was more talented IMO. Charlton and Edwards are hard to judge as they where so long ago
Avoiding the obvious arguments. Gazza? Brilliant but for a short period of time, he wouldn't get in my top 10.
Can't really argue against some of the names but in terms of my own lifetime: Scholes Robson Lampard Gerrard Hoddle Gazza Le Tissier Beardsley Ince Speed (I know he played for Wales but he's still English in my eyes )
Beardsley wasn't midfield though. It pains me to say this, it really does, but I have to agree on Colin Bell.
Depends on whether you are talking about the best midfielders or the greatest. Gazza was definitely one of the best, but not the greatest as his career petered out pretty soon. Similar for Edwards - his reported talent and quality put him amongst the top ten, but he didn't have a long enough career to be one of the greatest imo. That argument can also be reversed for Lampard and, to an extent, Gerrard as well imo. Lampard has always been quite limited technically when compared to players like Scholes, Gascoigne and Haynes, and lacked the dynamic leadership of Robson and Charlton, but he's made the best of what he has, and undoubtedly deserves to be considered one of the greatest, if not one of the best. Gerrard has much more technical skill than Lampard, and is again one of the greatest in terms of what he has achieved (caps, games, goals, CL, UEFA, FA Cups). But as an outright midfielder he's arguably just sneaking onto the top ten, as in the list in the OP, and could be argued to be a bit behind players like Bell and Moses in terms of quality, albeit having achieved much more.
I feel had Lampard been playing in the Chelsea sides of the 80's or 90's we wouldnt even be talking about him. I have no love of Gerrard but he would have been a great midfielder and a match winner in any side in any era. It's how I separate and rate the two.
