Who should play in England's first-choice midfield and why?

Question

Yahoo! UK & Ireland Answers team note: This is the real Paul Parker saying "I would go for a midfield quartet of Shaun Wright-Phillips, Owen Hargreaves, Steven Gerrard and Joe Cole." Join in and share your opinion.

Please read the blog for further details:
http://uk.blog.360.yahoo.com/blog-qT1KKPQoRKdVT4lowpJCljbFokkuIzI8?p=2204

Read Paul's latest article on Yahoo! Eurosport here:
http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/06062007/58/euro-2008-qual-parker-performance-important.html

Answer 1

For the England midfield, I dont think you can possibly exclude Beckham given the impact he made to the team against Brazil.

SWP is not good enough to play for England, he doesnt play regular football for Chelsea.

Lamps has been proven not to perform for England so we need to stop giving him chances. We need players who can do the work, like Hargreaves.

I would say:

Owen Hargreaves
Steven Gerrard
David Beckham
Joe Cole

Answer 2

I would have to agree with most and go for Joe Cole on the left, he often makes some sort of impact even if if doesnt feature for large parts of a match. I would also like to see Aaron Lennon given more of a chance down there.

Centre midfield would have to be Stevie Gerrard and Lampard. I'm sorry that this goes against the grain of most, but individually they both have the skill (every player goes through a period of bad form) and it's the managers job to set the tactics regarding who holds and who probes and when, and how that works between them on the pitch. I'd like to see Kieron Dyer more in centre midfield too, perhaps a 3-5-2 formation would work well, with Gerrard or Dyer pushed just behind the strikers. Carrick should always be considered a safe option from the bench too. As for Owen Hargreaves, I'm afraid he's just not the sensation he's made out to be. I have to agree that he had a decent world cup but it seems easy to foget what little impact he ever had before.....how many other players have we seen have great world cups before going straight out of form?

Beckham on the right for now - he should never be overlooked. His mere presence just lifts the team, and you have a belief every time he touches the ball. In future, I would expect the likes of SWP (once he's matured a little more), Ashley Young, and David Bentley fighting for a place on the Right.

Then again, I'm just a girl so what would I know?...... ;)

Answer 3

I agree with Jimmy Q:
Joe Cole
Michael Carrick
Steven Gerrard
David Beckham

Joe because of his obvious flair and skill and the fact that he's not afraid to shoot. Plus he has a good record and form of late.

Steven Gerrard is consistently good, but finds himself defending when he plays alongside Lampard. He should be pushing forward more although he is an excellent all-round midfielder I think he is better co-ordinating an attack from the centre.

Michael Carrick is more defensively minded but equally capable of putting decisive passes in to the forwards.

David Beckham is on fire at the moment and although it's put McLaren in somewhat of a quandry he made the right decision this time bringing Becks back. The other choices for right wing are (as you said) Shawn Wright-Phillips and Aaron Lennon. The latter is injured and the former has slightly better form recently so SWP would get the nod if Becks hadn't excelled in the past two matches vs Brazil and Estonia.

Beckham's position is applified if Crouch is playing due to his crossing ability from open or set-play.

P.S. Crouch should be a first starter every match at the moment.

Answer 4

I would have to go with the following:

Left Midfield: Joe Cole
You need a flare player, Joe coles got bag's of pace and skill and he puts them together great.

Right Midfield: David Beckham.
Say what you want, his vision is still great and can pick out a Michael Owen run with ease from 50 yards back. Of course the man's abilities at set piece are invaluable.

Defensive Midfield: Owen Hargreaves
Difficult choice between him and Carrick at the moment but I think Owen offers a more Solid presence at mopping up and breaking down the play then Carrick.

Attacking Midfield: Steven Gerrard.
I think given the license to rome forward with Hargreaves doing the defensive role and Beckham and Cole supplying the outlets Stevie G Could become the star of the side. He just offers more for me than Frank.

I think Shaun Wright Phillips would be best used as a great impact sub to shake the game up when it needs to be.

Answer 5

Our current midfield (Cole, Lampard, Gerrard, Beckham) consists of four right-footed attacking players. Where is the balance? Where are the defensive qualities to give the defence a hand? The ability to cross from the left?

Simply sticking eleven of the best players on the pitch is not the solution for England - Gerrard and Lampard prove that. Both excel for their clubs but are not effective when playing together.
For that same reason, I would not put Joe Cole on the left. He isn't a left-sided player. That isn't his natural position.

We need to find the best players for their respective positions and at the moment the best left-sided player in England is Stuart Downing. He came on for Cole against Brazil and had a crack at goal within minutes, whereas Cole barely had a sniff all game. He also played better than Cole in the game against Estonia, simply because left midfield is his position.

Attacking midfield would have to be Stevie G, as he outshines Lampard every time. Put Gerrard in his proper position with his proper responsibilities and he can change a game in minutes.

Holding midfield would be a straight out fight between Michael Carrick and Owen Hargreaves, as both play superbly in that position and would be ideal cover to allow Gerrard the freedom he craves. I think personally, I would just give Hargreaves the nod, as he is slightly more defence-minded than Carrick.

The guy taking up right midfield would have to be Beckham. He just brings too much to the england team to be left out, and I guarantee that if he were part of the squad at the start of the qualifiers, England would not be languishing in fourth place at present. 14 points from 7 games is unacceptable for a team of England's calibre, especially considering the opposition.

Those would be my first-teamers. We have adequate back-up in the likes of Lampard, Cole, Wright-Phillips etc. if any sustained an injury.

It's quite simple really - a player in position will play a lot better than one who is not.

Answer 6

Well the ones that played very well together which is Gerrard, Beckham, J. Cole and Lampard.
But for 1st choice players will have to be Owen Hargreaves, Beckham, Gerrard and J. Cole. With on substitute Lampard, Carrick, Lennon, Downing and Wright Phillips. Reason I say those is because they played so well together under Sven's regime and it was successful- yes we were knocked out but we have awesome midfielders.
In England we have full back up of midfielders but not of defenders (just looking at performance yesterday) Terry and Bridge played so well.
Our strikers are bouncing back to the their best performance too.

Answer 7

Steven Gerrard
David Beckham
Joe Cole
Owen Hargreaves

Answer 8

Lampard

Cole Gerrard Beckham

Hargreaves

Answer 9

Hello Paul,

I would not disagree with the basis of your midfield of
"left wing, right wing, attacking midfielder, holding midfielder"

For Sven his achilles heel was he persisted with Beckham rather than the exciting Aaron Lennon, who scared the hell out of the Portuguese left back at the World Cup when he came on.

Steve McClaren's achilles heel which will lead to his demise is that he cannot recognise that the question is Gerrard or Lampard, not Gerrard and Lampard.

Of the two, is should definitely be Gerrard - Lampard is increasingly making more and more short passes (mostly backwards and sidewards).

What people should think about is Nigel Martyn didn't play many times for England because of David Seaman - and we couldn't have two goalkeepers!
Just because Gerrard and Lampard play outfield, why does that make it any different?

Answer 10

I'll go for Beckham,Gerrard,Hargreaves/Carrick and Joe Cole.It's pretty balanced that way.Becks would provide the balls,Gerrard would receive them and assist the Strikers.Hargreaves/Carrick can provide long balls and help out the defense.Joe Cole's overlooked at Chelsea,but he plays better than Ballack and Kalou.
For the future though I'd choose Lennon/Bentley,Reo-Coker,Huddlestone and Downing.
But above all else England need to fire Steve Maclaren.Whose bright idea was it to hire him?Why not Sam Allardyce or Stuart Pearce?Sam's given Bolton great results and standings,and will probably do so at Newcastle,and Pearce is great with the Under-21s.Psycho will know what works for England

Answer 11

The best ever English midfielders in my opinion at present are, Steven Gerrard, Owen Hargreaves, Shaun-wright Phillips and David Beckham. There are all fighters both at club and national level, they do give their best unlike other midfielders. Gerrard and Hargreaves in particular are superb if they are playing together in the middle of the park.