Greatest English football XI

[aussie]

A good chance to look at the football history of the national side, given the that cricket chat seems to an historical wavelenght of late.

COACH: Alf Ramsey

GOAL-KEEPERS:

- Gordon Banks
- Peter Shilton
- David Seaman


DEFENDERS:

- Bobby Moore* - Captain
- Jack Charlton
- Bill Wright
- Terry Butcher
- Kenny Sansom
- Stuart Pearce
- Gary Neville
- Bob Crompton


MID-FIELDERS:

- Bryan Robson
- Duncan Edwards
- Glen Hoddle
- Martin Peters
- Stanley Matthews
- Tom Finney
- David Beckham
- Cliff Bastin

STRIKERS:

- Bobby Charlton
- Gary Lineker
- Kevin Keegan
- Geoff Hurst


-----------------------------------------------BANKS------------------------------------------------------------------------


CROMPTON--------------------------MOORE------------------WRIGHT-----------------------------SANSOM


--------------------------------------------ROBSON-----------------EDWARDS---------------------------------------


MATTHEWS--------------------------------------CHARLTON---------------------------------------------FINNEY


------------------------------------------------------------HURST------------------------------------------------------------


Banks great save againts Pele in 1970 should forever hold down his status as England's best keeper & arguably the greatest ever (no disrespect to Lev Yashin).

In defense Moore & Wright should be certainties in the centre of the defense, wasn't totally sure about the full-backs but i decided to go for Crompton & Samson based on what i read.

Robson aka ``captain marvel`` seems to have been one of the most accomplished all-round mid-fielders to represent England wins a place easily along with the much glorified Duncan Edwards.

Legends Matthews, Finney & Charlton don't need explaning & well Hurst leading the line doesn't necessarily mean he is the best striker to come out of England but scoring a hat-trick in our only WC triumph should give him first preference over the rest IMO.

Honourable mentions to Sam Hardy, Tony Adams, Roger Byrne, Phil Neal, Paul Gascoigne, Steven Gerrard, Colin Bell, Allan Ball, Chris Waddle, Ray Wilkins, Dixie Dean, Michael Owen, Steve Bloomer, Tom Lawton, Jimmy Greaves.

 

[Shaggy Alfresco]

David Seaman on the bench, the man lobbed by the heavenly trio of Ronaldinho, Nayim and Lee Dixon

----------------------Banks
-Cohen---Moore--------Wright---Pearce

----------Robson--Stiles--Edwards

Matthews--------------------------------Finney

-----------------------Greaves

That would be mine, a 4-3-3 formation.

 

[Tom Halsey]

-----------------------------Banks

-------------------Moore-----------Wright

Neal--------------------------------------------------------Pearce

---------------------Robson---------Stiles

Matthews--------------------------------------------------Finney

----------------------Charlton
----------------------------------------Greaves

Largely similar, Pearce is picked because I can't think of another left back, I'm probably forgetting a few.

 

[cpr]

David Seaman on the bench, the man lobbed by the heavenly trio of Ronaldinho, Nayim and Lee Dixon

Remember the Dixon one n all, utter classic

 

[Tom Halsey]

Wasn't the Dixon one about five seconds into the season? Start as you mean to go on.

 

[GIMH]

Nixon

Stevens
McGreal
Bell
A Taylor

Morrisey
Irons
Jennings
Shuker

Greenacre
Muir

Would pick Aldo and Koumas as they are both English but wound up playing for different countries

 

[cpr]

Seeing a pattern in that last post








There all ****

 

[GIMH]

GAGF, Bell holds the record for all-time consecutive league appearances, what a gun, the only member of my team that I never saw play

 

[cpr]

Should've done, you said it yourself, he played enough times

 

[GIMH]

This is true, alas I am 23. If it makes you feel any better I was there when we did a minute's silence for him in 94

 

[Agent TBY]

There's a condition for using the word "Greatest"

Greatness should be >0.

 

[BoyBrumby]

Wouldn't want Captain Poof anywhere near my best XI; he only had to catch sight of himself in the mirror to pick up yet another injury. Not sure about Nobby Stiles either; not so much a footballer as an anti-footballer.

 

[Tom Halsey]

Wouldn't want Captain Poof anywhere near my best XI; he only had to catch sight of himself in the mirror to pick up yet another injury. Not sure about Nobby Stiles either; not so much a footballer as an anti-footballer.

Assuming fully fit.

Stiles may not have been the most technical of footballers, but there's no denying his effectiveness, both at England and at United (particularly shone marking Eusebio out of various games for both club and country), vastly under rated.

 

[aussie]

David Seaman on the bench, the man lobbed by the heavenly trio of Ronaldinho, Nayim and Lee Dixon

----------------------Banks
-Cohen---Moore--------Wright---Pearce

----------Robson--Stiles--Edwards

Matthews--------------------------------Finney

-----------------------Greaves

That would be mine, a 4-3-3 formation.

Looks good, Cohen does seem a better bet @ RB than Crompton while Pearce/Samson is debatable is guess. Seems harsh to Bobby Charlton out though.

 

[aussie]

Wouldn't want Captain Poof anywhere near my best XI; he only had to catch sight of himself in the mirror to pick up yet another injury. Not sure about Nobby Stiles either; not so much a footballer as an anti-footballer.

Quality nickname for whoever that was bestowed upon.

 

[Goughy]

Interesting to see Shilton mentioned. Certainly had a long career. However, Id go as far to say England would probably have wone Italia 90 with Chris Woods in goal.

 

[sledger]

Interesting to see Shilton mentioned. Certainly had a long career. However, Id go as far to say England would probably have wone Italia 90 with Chris Woods in goal.

Extremely underated player for mine, so many people seem to forget that he actually played a lot of games for England, (about 40 iirc) and kept David Seaman out of the England side for a substantial period.

 

[HeathDavisSpeed]

DEFENDERS:

- Bobby Moore* - Captain
- Jack Charlton
- Bill Wright
- Terry Butcher
- Kenny Sansom
- Stuart Pearce
- Gary Neville
- Bob Crompton.

Gary Neville? Dear oh dear. Surely not. I'd rather see Justin Edinburgh in there.

The missus' old man is a big Spurs fan. He'd probably suggest putting Danny Blanchflower and Alan Gilzean in an England team (and yes, I do know that Gilzean was a Scot)

 

[sledger]

Viv Anderson >> Gary Neville.

 

[cpr]

G
The missus' old man is a big Spurs fan. He'd probably suggest putting Danny Blanchflower and Alan Gilzean in an England team (and yes, I do know that Gilzean was a Scot)

And Blanchflower was Norn Irish?