Is the England team now better than the so called ‘Golden Generation’ under Sven in 2002/4

Tough one to call imho

 

If you line the two teams up on paper? No

If you base it on results at tournaments. Yes

The thing with international football is it's a knockout competition so the best team doesn't always win.

 

It's definitely less cliquey and more together.

 

England team v Portugal in Euro 2004. James, Gary Neville, Terry, Campbell, Ashley Cole, Beckham, Lampard, Gerrard, Scholes, Owen, Rooney

I think Harry Kane gets in for Owen or Rooney, Walker for Neville, Bellingham for Lampard? Maybe Pickford for James, but other than that nobody.

 

I was going to say that - they seem more like a club side under Southgate. They're together, they genuinely seem to enjoy each others company, and when one of them is thrown under the bus then their teammates are their for them.

Under Sven there was Liverpool v Chelsea v Man Utd and they seemed like they didn't care at all.

 

If you're picking a team rather than the best 11, then Rice gets in for whichever of Gerrard/Lampard you want to get rid of, plus you pick anyone on the current squad to play on the left instead of Scholes.

Less square pegs.

 

Very true.

 

We've had a better team since 2018.
We play as a unit and have won bigger games. Plus we have been more consistent. Been to semi finals and finals - they never did that back then.
The Golden Generation is a self proclaimed myth as far as I'm concerned.

 

No one.talks about WAGs anymore.

 

Paul Scholes wide left.

what a waste.

 

Gagging orders.

 

Exactly.

Southgate would have dropped one of Gerrard or Lampard to play a more balanced team and then receive dogs abuse from experts on here....

 

Lampard and Gerrard would have worked better in the same team in today's formations with only 1 up top and wide forwards. You could have had a holding player behind the 2 of them then.

 

That's true actually. Maybe Owen Hargreaves would have played behind them. But one up top would have been a nightmare, as Owen needed a partner and Rooney would have been shoehorned wide. Although that system would have suited Joe Cole better.

 

To make it work you play Rooney up top and drop Owen. Then he's a great option off the bench. As you say the problem was we tried to shove everyone into the starting 11 and it made for a disjointed team.

 

Defence was massively batter under Sven.
Are Rice and Bellingham as good as Gerrard/Lampard? I’d say they might be viewed that way by the time their careers are over.
Is Foden/Kane a better partnership than Rooney/Owen?
Are Saka and Palmer better wide players than Beckham/Scholes?

 

The whole Scholes on the left & Gerrard / Lampard / Scholes is a bit of a myth.

They were only really around at the same time for one tournament.

Lampard’s England career started pretty much as Scholes ended.

Scholes has said repeatedly that he didn’t like been away from home & it was nothing to do with playing on the left for one tournament.

We shouldn’t have played 4-4-2 for so long though.

 

Comparing Gerrard to Bellingham is like comparing Brek Shea to Pele. Gerrard would be a squad member this time round.

On the other hand Terry and Ferdinand would stroll in.

 

Hoddle went 3 at the back, largely as I remember due to us having limited options on the left. 352 may not have been the way to go but at least he was a intelligent enough coach to pick up on the problem.
Then he was sacked (and rightly so) and Keegan and Sven both just persisted with 442.

 

Golden generation achieved nothing, this lot still have a chance to do so, so a bit premature to judge both sides.