Lampard ruining the England squad!

[Decadence]

Just my opinion but the insistence of Steve McLaren to view Lampard as "essential" in the lineup is completely ruining the England setup. More than any other person in any other position he is holding the team back massively. Central midfield is crucial and by keeping Lampard in the squad we severely limit our options and capabilities.

Get him out, bring someone else in...tonight I would have tried Phil Neville instead of Lampard. He could have played the defensive role that prevented Gerrard from pushing further forward. Either that or Ledley King/Michael Carrick in for the same purpose and maybe put Michael Dawson in central midfield.

Whatever...the main purpose of this thread is just to say that the manager needs to drop him to the bench at least...it is the best step forward we could make!

[KevD]

The team, yes - the squad is a little harsh

He was just too slow to everything today and he has to make way when Hargreaves come back to let Gerrard fill the more foward role.

Would love a Lampard in the England team playing the way he did 2 years ago, but he hasnt been seen in those two years.

[LFC_SL]

Well Hargreaves was crippled so we will see what McClaren will do...

No doubt he is hoping the choice will be out of his hands so he does not have to take responsibility!

Yes we know he scores a shed load of goals for Chelski. Yes, without him, they really would be in trouble. No, no one knows why for England he bottles it/doesn't happen for him (delete as per your allegiance)

[johnscarlet]

I almost started a thread tonight called ENGLAND V BRAZIL , comments .
Where I started off with that very subject . Lampard OR Gerrard not both .
Every manager would have loved the chance to have both SG & FL in thier sides . But England have had the chance and it does not work. With Beckham coming back in the squad , he was always going to start . The big decision tonight would have been to leave out either/or . And he couldn't make it .
Still , Hargreaves wasn't available ,and its only Estonia coming up .

I didn't start it as I thought I was only repeating myself .So I'll stop now

[Decadence]

I completely agree, my choice for tonight would have been Hargreaves all the way had he been fit. Even if Hargreaves was available I still think that we'd have Lampard and Gerrard shoehorned into the midfield.

I do think Lampard is a good club player but for England we just keep on playing him and playing him in the hope that he'll find the form he used to have. It's not going to happen so time to move on. We have so many options if we drop him! But we didn't do it, not even for a friendly match to see what might happen!

[KevD]

People say its only Estonia, but the game is huge and depending on results tomorrow we could be 5 points behind Croatia and 3 behind Russia (with no games in hand!), so ALL the pressure, alot of it, is on England.

The best way for us to win convincingly is too have Gerrard playing his normal role going foward and have Carrick (or Neville) in the side. Might get a few goals which could be useful if the group goes down to the wire.

I only thank Sven for somehow coming out of the meeting at the begnning of the campaign giving us our last 4 qualifiers all at home, he did do something right for England

[la gran siete]

Gerard was absoluter;ly superb in the holding role but England really had no penetration. Smith shouldnt be allowed near an England shirt again, the man plainly has no class.Shorey did very well for his first cap , Becks was veryu good but needs G Neville behind him, both Terry and King did very well too. Lamps again wasnt up to it and i'd like to have seen Cole tried just behind the front striker with Downing on the left. Reasonable performance against the worlds best team.Need to up the tempo though. 7/10

[M-C-P-M]

I was at the game last night and Lampard was boooed every time he went near the ball and i have to say, for good reason! He was appalling he seems to be running in porridge as soon as he had the ball he didn't have a clue! what a great stadium by the way

[la gran siete]

Originally Posted by M-C-P-M

I was at the game last night and Lampard was boooed every time he went near the ball and i have to say, for good reason! He was appalling he seems to be running in porridge as soon as he had the ball he didn't have a clue! what a great stadium by the way

Lucky you Mind you I dont think it helps a players confidence to keep getting booed
Another thing what is the point of Jenas ?? I just dont see it

[Epicurus]

Originally Posted by M-C-P-M

I was at the game last night and Lampard was boooed every time he went near the ball and i have to say, for good reason! He was appalling he seems to be running in porridge as soon as he had the ball he didn't have a clue! what a great stadium by the way

Seriously, lucky lucky guy that stadium looks fantastic.

I agree that when Hargreaves is fit he should come back into the side at the expense of Lampard with Becks on the right and Cole on the left. I don't like Downing at all.

Front is still an issue, England still have the habit of too many long balls which means a pairing of Rooney and Owen is rendered almost useless. Either they stop doing so many long balls (ideally) or they will have to use someone like Crouch. I'm not a fan of Crouch (and i'm a pool supporter) and his distribution off his head is random to say the least, but most of the time he can stand there like a lamppost and the ball will it him on the head and go somewhere.

Owen is a must though, a year at Real Madrid made him even more deadly, noone really talks about it because maybe most people don't notice it, but his off the ball movement is in the class of the best continental strikers now. Not to mention he is one of those predators who always just seems to be in the right place to nick a goal, so he can't be left out when fit.

[johnscarlet]

A fit Lennon , rather than Beckham .
As good as DB is , he promotes the longball game (not to mention drifting in field too much , still). And the fear Lennon put in sides with his pace at the world cup was clear to see .

[Decadence]

Like I said earlier, the best chance we have with to open the team up to fulfil its potential lies with dropping Lampard.

[KevD]

Yeap, the key is the middle of the park. Lennon or Beckham is a different arguement and would have a lesser impact than a change in the middle. Im a Spurs fan and think Lennon could be amazing for us & England, but he was a little dissapointing toward the end of the season.

I definitely think Lampard needs dropping. He is always taking the shot on and being selfish when there are people in far better positions to pass to. I would much rather see Steven Gerrard and Owen Hargreaves in the centre.

I also suspect that trying to shoehorn Lampard in the team was one of the reasons that lead to Scholsey retireing from England. Imo scholes got sick of being played on the left side just to accomodate " Super Frank". For me he would still be Englands first choice midfielder followed very very closely by Gerrard.

Also does anyone think Joe Coles lollypops fooled anyone, he kept trying it but he looked like he was doing it in slow motion. Perhaps I am just used to the speed at which Ronaldo performs them.

[LFC_SL]

I didn't watch the match, so only just found out

Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww

...

Oh well!