the golden generation was always a myth and an insult to 96-98 group of players that preceded it
for all the hype they played a lumpen 442 where weak managers crowbarred scholes into the left wing and lampard into a CDM in an attempt to appease the egos of gerrard and lampard. scoles was a 9/10 CM and lampard a 9/10 ACM but both were 6/10 out left and playing deep respectively. they had paul ******* robinson in goal.
the dearth of strikers was also telling. owen was a busted flush by 2004, but rooney was an absolute beast moving into his prime. but beyond that? darrius vassel, heskey and peter crouch. they actually started the 2006 world cup playing a 6'7" big man with a 5'10" little man with a 4-4-2.
criminally they failed to develop beckham into the centre pin of that team, preferring to shoehorn gerrard and lampard into the same team. both those players got 90 odd caps, in reality only one of them should, the other shoud have gotten half that.
they didnt even qualify for the 2008 euros. yet they call themselves the golden generation.
96-98 england had venenbles and hoddle who played innovative systems that exploited the strengths of the players.
midfielders who graced that era: ince, platt and gascoigne who graced serie a - what was by far the toughest league in the world. macmanaman who would score in champions league final for real madrid, redknapp, scholes , beckham, anderton, merton, batty.
forwards who played that era: sherigham, shearer, owen, wright, fowler, cole, ferdinand, collymore, le tissier, sutton all 25-30 goals a season men.
and venables and hoddle did it with nuance and panache.
so don't give me it that the proletariate anachromistic nepotism-dogged, 442, big man/little man, paul ******* robinson, patchwork quilt of a team of 2004-8 was a golden generation after the sides that played in the late 90s. its like comparing a sculptor such as michelangeo to a polish panel beater.
