Gerrard vs Lampard

After watching the England game last night, it only went to further cement my belief that Lampard and Gerrard simply cannot play in the same midfield. They are both world class footballers, but together, they just don't gel. They're too similar. In the Kazakhstan game, Lampard was the better of the two. In the Belarus game, he was anonymous, Gerrard taking the central role and making it his own. He scored one, and made an assist for the other, yet the debate rages on. Can they play together? I personally think not. The question then becomes, which one do you leave out?

Lampard is a player who likes to get forward, has many shots on goal, and has more England goals to his name. However, his defensive duties are lacking and he is not versatile enough to play out of position should it be required. Gerrard is Liverpool's saviour on many occasions, but he's not always able to reproduce his Liverpool form in an England shirt. Yet still, he remains my first choice for the England midfield. If you ignore the statistics and simply watch a game with your own eyes, you will realise for yourself that Lampard has been far from his best for England for many years now. The few games he missed through injury in which Barry partnered Stevie were a vast improvement, but once Lampard regained match fitness, he was back in the squad. It worries me that the managers have not yet been able to see what the fans see, and if this carries on, England will never be able to mount a serious challenge for any competition they play in.

Of course, my opinion on this is totally biased on the basis that I am a Liverpool fan and will always think Gerrard is the better player. His goals come from open play, rather than penalty kicks and deflections, he is better at defensive duties and is overall the better of the two in my opinion. I'll leave it down to you to decide which you'd rather have in your England midfield.