England World Cup X1 - from the past

guitars4you

So from 1982 on wards, pick your England X1 - I've ignored teams/players prior to that as 74/78 no team and 66/70 was effectively the winning team to a large degree - So pick your team and formation - many options - But pick a team that could have competed and won this 2018 World Cup

I've gone for a Croatia style 4 1 4 1 format to make this team work

                  Seaman

Neville  Walker  Ferdinand  Pearce

                   Robson  

Waddle  Gazza    Lampard    Barnes

                    Shearer

p90fool

Pick a bunch of players who could've won this world cup, but they have to be English. 

Er, right. 

quarky

I think the difference in general pace and fitness means that great players from the past wouldn't look quite so good today. Putting that aside though, I would probably go for something like:

              Seaman

G. Neville Ferdinand Campbell A. Cole

Beckham Gazza Robson Barnes

       Rooney (04) Owen (98)

Dopesick

                                   Shilton

   G Neville         Adams         Ferdinand         Pearce

   Beckham        Scholes        Gascoigne       Waddle

                        Shearer           Lineker

Gassage

Harsh on the great Phil Neal

Gassage

Here's mine from my lifetime only, simple 442 to make it wasy

Clemence

Neville, Adams, Ferdinand, Pearce

Robson, Rooney, Brooking, Keegan

Shearer, Linekar.

Octafish

Not really into fooball, but I'd have Seaman cloned and play in every position just for the childish joy of hearing the commentators say "and there's Seaman all over the pitch".

Boromedic

Dopesick said:

                                   Shilton

   G Neville         Adams         Ferdinand         Pearce

   Beckham        Scholes        Gascoigne       Waddle

                        Shearer           Lineker

Ha this would've been mine as well, great side that. With Platt, Ince, Pallister, Owen, Gerrard and Lampard on the bench.

Teetonetal

                        Seaman

  Trippier  Campbell  Ferdinand  Cole

                          Robson

          Beckham                  Waddle

                          Scholes

                    Shearer   Lineker

guitars4you

Teetonetal said:

                        Seaman

  Trippier  Campbell  Ferdinand  Cole

                          Robson

          Beckham                  Waddle

                          Scholes

                    Shearer   Lineker

funnily enough I nearly went with Trippier for his pace/energy

Note the famous Xmas tree in midfield but with Scholes in the right position and not tucked away on the left

joeyowen

Anyone who doesn't include Scholes, didn't watch him enough 

Boromedic

Actually I might have Beardsley in mine instead of Shearer (put him on the bench like), that guy was a great player and a brilliant foil for Lineker

Boromedic

joeyowen said:

Anyone who doesn't include Scholes, didn't watch him enough 

Yes, he was massively short changed by crazy England managers of the past. Who plays him on the wing FFS.

JAYJO

I would have Brian Clough first and then let him pick the team. 

Boromedic

Missed opportunity that one unfortunately, although Bobby Robson was a great choice later on

Teetonetal

guitars4you said:

Teetonetal said:

                        Seaman

  Trippier  Campbell  Ferdinand  Cole

                          Robson

          Beckham                  Waddle

                          Scholes

                    Shearer   Lineker

funnily enough I nearly went with Trippier for his pace/energy

Note the famous Xmas tree in midfield but with Scholes in the right position and not tucked away on the left

2 things struck me about Trippier, his crossing was mostly top drawer, as was his dead-ball delivery. Didn't see him any worse than Neville in defence. shame he is already 27

crunchman

Keeper is difficult.  There isn't anyone with a history of stopping penalties, but Shilton is probably better overall than Seaman, unless you go completely left field and bring in someone who never played much for England.

Both of our semi final appearances have come playing three centre backs, so I'm going with that formation.  Which three is tricky.  You do need ball players back there, but at the same time, I'd really like some pace - which means Des Walker or Sol Campbell.  Campbell needed all his pace to make up for his poor positioning though.  You also want someone who is a dominant header of the ball who can be a threat at set pieces.

Having said all that, I'd go Ferdinand, Adams, and Campbell, and hope Campbell didn't get caught out of position too often.

Stuart Pearce is the left wing back.  Not as fast as Cole, but far better defending the back post on headers, and his left foot was awesome.

Right wing back would be tricky.  I'd probably go for Gary Neville.  He played that role quite well in Euro 1996.  With Pearce and Neville able to drop in, it would give you flexibility to go to a back four if you wanted an attacking substitute.

3 central midfielders.  You need someone to sit in front of the defence.  Nicky Butt did it very very well in the 2002 world cup.  I'd rather have Butt than some of the more "talented" players who would go forwards and get caught out of position.  The other option there would be Ray Wilkins, but I'm just a bit too young to remember him at his best, so I'll go with Butt.

The more attacking midfielders would be Bryan Robson and Gascoigne.

Up front, Lineker is obvious.  The question is who you play off of him.  Keegan wasn't at his best in 82, but he was European player of the year twice.  We haven't had many players of his calibre.  If I could have the 1978 Keegan that would be a no brainer.  If we are sticking to the rules about 82 onwards, I'd probably play it safe and go with Bearsdley, as I know him and Lineker work as a pair.

To summarise:

                                  Shilton

           Adams       Ferdinand          Campbell

G Neville                                                      Pearce

                                   Butt

                   Robson         Gascoigne

                         Beardsley

                                  Lineker

Edit:  the 1998 version of Owen on the bench as an impact sub.

crunchman

joeyowen said:

Anyone who doesn't include Scholes wants 11 players on the pitch at the end

FTFY

quarky

Surprised no one had Hargreaves in there. I was really tempted, but couldn't replace anyone else. I would have him over Butt though.

bloodandtears

no love for Sheringham??

crunchman

bloodandtears said:

no love for Sheringham??

Did think about him, but his lack of pace counts against him.

quarky said:

Surprised no one had Hargreaves in there. I was really tempted, but couldn't replace anyone else. I would have him over Butt though.

Good player but he never stayed fit.

Butt did play very well in 2002:

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/international/4777910/Who-is-Peles-player-of-this-World-Cup-Nicky-Butt.html

He wasn't actually the best player of the tournament, but you do need one of those players to do the dirty work.  Look at Didier Deschamps for the French in 1998.  It's a key role.