Lampard has always come into that category for me. You don't have his goals and appearance record without being a smashing player, he's never been the worlds best at his position - as some Chelsea fans would have you believe.

Sol Campbel was another one. Brilliant CB, but the number of times I heard about a goal conceded due to an "uncharacteristic" Sol Campbell mistake would sugest that it was less uncharacteristic than first thought….

Gerrard as per Lampard

BIGIRISHGOONER

I would disagree about Lampard, but i have had this debate so many times.

One i would say is Carvalho, while he was a world class defender and probably one of the best we have had, their was a myth going round he made Terry look better than what he was, which could not be further from the truth.

Agree qith coutinho and vidic. Toure and Ozil are fantastic however. Cant comment on kdb as havnt really seen much of him.

Other names id like to add are

Kolo toure- he doesnt look half the player he did for arsenal and even back then I wouldnt have said hes amongst the leagues best like liverpool fans claim.

Rosicky - looks busy and works hard and looks really tidy with the ball but is often ineffective

Aguero - he is so inconsistent yet nobody picks up on it

Id agree on lampard, he is a very good attacking midfielder who suited the style and formation you played. However as i think we have found for England if he is not in his favoured position etc he does not adpat well.

Rio Ferdinand was/is always my biggest though. A god defender without doubt but not in the same league as the wordls best due to silly mistakes and this idea that he was a footballing defender didnt really wash with me much either.

scouse

Can't the same be said about a lot of players? Ballack for example wasn't as good for us because the team wasn't built around him, but he was still one of the best in the world in his prime.

I still to this day think Gerrard and Lampard would have worked for England if we played 4-3-3 with a half decent holding midfielder like Carrick, Sven really missed a trick there.

Rooney.

Think the thing with Toure is that he surprised us all with how well he has done. We expected him to come in as cover and he was starting and playing well.

For Arsenal it has to be the Ox... thouhg that may be the media up to their usual tricks as he is young and English.

comment by FrimBöue (U12551)
posted 4 minutes ago
Agree qith coutinho and vidic. Toure and Ozil are fantastic however. Cant comment on kdb as havnt really seen much of him.

Other names id like to add are

Kolo toure- he doesnt look half the player he did for arsenal and even back then I wouldnt have said hes amongst the leagues best like liverpool fans claim.

Rosicky - looks busy and works hard and looks really tidy with the ball but is often ineffective

Aguero - he is so inconsistent yet nobody picks up on it


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Decent shout with Aguero, although given who we have their is probably a reason i haven't got a forward on my list

Kings Road

I agree ... i think the difference is Gerrard has p[layed out of position many times for England for example (including the right wing) and still IMO had more of an impact than Lampard

Also that is the midfield I would start tonight... I cannot see how Carrick does not get played in the holding midfield role for England..he is easily the best English player we have in this position!

Walcott..over-rated by fans other than Arsenal

Ox looked amazing in his first season with us but like most youngsters hes had a dip in form and looks inconsistent. He'll come good. Looks better than walcott did at the same age and now walcott is statistically our most important player

Scouse, Lampard in the early day's especially did play the holding role aswell, but that is one of my main gripes with Sven that he didn't utilize those two properly.

I remember a friendly just after the 06WC against Greece, Owen H played as a holding midfield while Lampard and Gerrard were bombing forward and causing Greece no end of problems, what could have been

He loked amazing compared to other yougnsters yes... but the way he was talked about!!

media are doing same thing with Barkley now! This lad will be very very good but some are claiming he should start for England!

I'd love to know whether some of this fan 'opinions' come from.

Liverpool for example, as a fan I know plenty of other fans and I can tell you the generally held opinion of Coutinho is that he is an exceptionally talented kid with real potential but nowhere near the finished product.

Kolo, leagues best?! The fans I know wouldn't even put him as the best at the club! He is a fantastic signing to get for free and his experience is invaluable to us, plus his performances have been really good to date but he's a short term answer.

Anyway, to the OP's question.

In the year and a bit I've seen of him I'd put Hazard in that category. Considering he was considered one of the hottest properties in world football.

Talking of world football, I was having this debate the other day. Xavi is an exceptional player but one of the best midfielders ever - not for me.

Santi Corzola

Sterling- I think it is hard to judge Xavi (and others) objectively due to the team he plays in...

Lampard scores a goal every 3 games from CM - you can't argue with that achievement.
Just sayin, Tim Cahill scored a goal every 4 games from CM and never got half the praise.

Santi Corzola
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good shout

"In the year and a bit I've seen of him I'd put Hazard in that category. Considering he was considered one of the hottest properties in world football. "

I actually agree

I think Oscar's the most under-rated player in our squad if not the league, i don't think i have ever seen a player so young play with so much maturity.

Hazard will be amongst the worlds best in 4/5 years time along with Neymar. He wont be at Messi or CR7 level but that no one will for a long long time

I don't see what's wrong with Barkley starting for England. He's in better form than Wilshere at the moment who will be starting tonight.

Hazard will be amongst the worlds best in 4/5 years time along with Neymar. He wont be at Messi or CR7 level but that no one will for a long long time
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Coutinho will be ...

I dont want Wilshire to start either...!!!!!!!