He was, infuriatingly, shifted to the left. Hence they took control.

@@omarmahmood7128he started on the left..

Speaks volumes

with all due respect, lampard and gerrard were overrated whenever compared to scholes cuz there's no comparison for him in this world. Scholes was not appealing to English media just look at Beckham again with all due respect he was overrated as well the only thing he wasn't overrated in was crosses and free kick otherwise he was.

No way, I don't support Man UTD but this guy was sheer class.👌🏽

***** and mine too... well he made me love this beautiful game... i used to play and watch Cricket as a kid. But 14 yrs ago i saw him in one of Man Utd's game n boy dat was it... i've never sit the whole innings for any cricket matches - i wud rather dont sleep or wake up as early as 2 am in the morning to watch United's or somewhat England game (till he retired from intl matches)

Absolutely right.

Gerrard is the only one of the 3 who could attack AND defend. While Scholes was a beast at controlling games,that's the only thing he had over them

Ok, now that's an overreaction dude. I never said Gerrard never made errors, I said he is better defensively, and probably offensively, than him, am I wrong? As for big games, he is the only player who scored in the League Cup, FA Cup, UCL and EL finals, almost single-handedly won the '06 FA Cup and '05 CL, scored against all teams you consider 'big' in England, scored decisive goals against teams like Real, Milan, Inter, Atletico,etc in Europe. I'm not bashing anyone here, and while you're right that he has been crap for England(as has any English player bar Cole in the last 10-15 years) you completely lost the plot in response to my point.

The problem with Gerrard was that he had all the technical and physical qualities to be a world class midfielder. Where he was lacking was his reading of the game - tactical awareness and vision. That's why he was never truly world class and teams with him running the midfield never dominated games. He played his best in a free role with Xabi Alonso and Javier Mascherano controlling the game behind him. This is also the reason why Capello put him on the left wing for England as his strength was his attacking play (arguably he should have played just behind Rooney through the middle) and he was a bit of a liability in a 2 man midfield. Yes he could tackle better than Lampard and Scholes, but you wouldn't trust him as a holding midfielder as evidenced in this years World Cup. Lampard was a more disciplined player who had to work harder for his success, but also far less talented. You could never argue Gerrards passion for England (or he would have retired years ago). He was also one of the best players in the whole tournament in Euro 2012, however we had like 30-40% possession most games which sums Gerrard up really.

Yes, his weakness was in controlling games, but that was it. There are very few who mastered that art, such as Xavi, Pirlo, Scholes,etc. Even Zidane and Iniesta aren't/weren't the game-controlling types. In staying loyal to LFC, he had to carry the team and denied himself the luxury of being surrounded with top players like Scholes and Lamps. At his peak, he had a combination of pace, power, goal-scoring, tackling, versatility and vision(yes,watch some of his assists throughout his career), which baffles me as why you say he was never 'truly world-class'. During the period from 04-09, I saw him as the most complete midfielder. If you put aside team achievements and look at purely the individual traits, I'd take Gerrard (at his peak) over Lamps and Scholes who were great contributors to well-oiled machines. It's a bit like Francesco Totti, he hasn't had as much success as some players, but individually he's one of the best ever in recent times. At the end of the day it boils down to what type of player one prefers.

I'm willing to bet that there aren't many midfielders who've scored hatricks for club and country.

Lampard was one of the most overrated players England has ever produced as well as Gerrard. Scholes could have made the Italia 90 team because he was good enough.

bighands69 I think Gerrard at his best(04-10) was the most complete midfielder in world football. I'd have him from that time than Scholes.

Nathan Maswanganyi yeah but Scholes from 04-10 was 30 to 36 years of age.....Gerrard was 24 to 30. The Scholes of 24 to 30, (1998-2004) was far superior than Gerrard from 24 to 30 (2004 to 2010)

Nathan Maswanganyi Your attitude is what has made British football fall into decline. A defenders role is to keep the ball out of the net. A strikers role is to score goals. A midfielder role is to pass the ball and is considered the engine of the team. Scholes as a mid fielder could pass the ball on par with the likes of Xavi, Inesta and Zidane. Gerrard could not.

+bighands69 English people picked Gerrard and Lampard because they could score more goals - well for Gerrard his scoring record wasnt even ahead of Scholes!

robertmoles11 Lampard and Gerrard are not proper midfielders. They are attacking half players that simply do not know how to control games.

+bighands69 Gerrard 2013/15 season. Come back to me when you get your facts right.

Yeah that is evident in this video.

TitanFind Because zidane is in France 🇫🇷

PS: It seems mad to sub off Scholes and maybe contributed to losing the game. That said, I can guess why Sven did so - he picked up his customary yellow some time earlier and was playing defensive midfield.

Good times, Hargreaves was soo good before he got injured.

Scholes and Carrick partnership would have upgraded this team.

It's May 2023 and we still haven't replaced Scholes

1 YEAR LATER AND STEVEY ME IS BEEN SENT TO MLS HA HA

+Paul O'Donnell Wilshere has the potential to, in my opinion. His vision, work rate, passing range and abilities, stamina, flair is almost unrivalled by any english player at the moment. Alas, Wilshere's fragile bones and atitude to improvise himself is a shame. Watch his perfomance in games against Barcelona, Bayern. He held his own both technically and physically in these games.

+ahchaibloodcrip he has potential to be a world class, but I feel he may never be able to reach where he shall with his injuries and attitude

Brand New Heavies

The actual fuck did any of that even mean?

Mad Ting read it your find out

***** He very rarely played for United on the left. He was usually picked ahead of Butt in the centre, aside from the really early years (where he was usually employed as a second striker). If you were to get a percentage of the games played on the left out of the total for both England and then United, the percentage of games played on the left for England from his 60-odd caps would be higher than the handful of times he played on the left for United out of 600+ appearances. Stop stating 'facts' which are complete nonsense. As this video demonstrates, Scholes did perform for England, and even on the left he often played quite well. I don't think its an excuse to state that he was, however, out of his best position, and he was effectively wasted by England given his subsequent (and understandable) retirement. I like both Gerrard and Lampard - they've both had their moments in an England shirt. People need to move on for blaming specific players for England's failure on the highest stage in recent history. It's a collective failure, though they can also consider themselves unlucky in regards to WC '98 and Euro '04. I also think most England defenders, bar the 2010 WC, can hold their heads up high. Anyway in regards to this video, it is simply sad to see that such a talent was not utilised more effectively in an England shirt in the second half of his career; people also forget that Scholes had some excellent years in an England shirt. He effectively got us to Euro 2000, played well in there and in the WC '98 before (scoring an absolute peach against Tunisia, though he did miss a sitter in the Argentina game!), and was solid if unspectacular in 2002 (Nicky Butt was probably our best player at that tournament). Although I think he was mis-managed, ultimately he is the one who decided to walk away, and I believe he could have played at the 2006 and 2010 World Cup's if he'd simply put his hand up for selection.

+MJB wrong when UTD bought Veron Scholes played behind Van Nistelrooy as the attacking mid/second striker. Veron would partner Keane in central mid and Butt would play in CM when called upon.

Hahahaha. Funny lad you ate.The England squad of 98 and Euro 00 aint got shit. England were realistically looking like world beaters on paper at Euro 04 / World Cup 2006 where players like Lampard, Gerrard, Scholes, Becks, Rio, Terry, Rooney, Owen, G.Neville, Hargreaves were at their top playing career. The managers didn't get the formation and tactics right. End of.

+MJB well, when England played Butt-Scholes-Beckham alongside with that 2nd tier player Sinclar in 2002 things worked quite well. They could outplay the strong Argentina squad thrash Denmark, and almost defeated that notorious 3R Brazil - had Scholes and Seaman not made a stupid mistake each.

+dave790 I watched a lot of United games to do Beckham games,I can tell you he play on the left more for than you think..Because you are trying to be a genuis I will do it..

I assume you are being sarcastic. Because if you are not you are part of the England fans mentality that does not understand how football is played. The likes of Gerrard or Lampard could the problem in that they are not midfielders.

AND U KNOW NOTHING

+Michael Willett he actually got 37/41 passes successful in this game, which is more than 90% all four fail passes were crosses or forward passes. he also got 3 successful tackles and 3 interceptions in a single game - pretty impressive