Lampard and Gerrard are the best / most experienced­ midfielders in England right now. Coaches have problem­ with these two because of their different qualities.­ While Gerrard can change a game by his brilliant moves,­ pace and pressure game, he cannot be trusted to give­ the same level of performance each time he plays for­ England. Meanwhile Lampard does not have the same­ talent Gerrard has. He is however very consistent and­ hardworking. You will notice that Lampard will not­ stand after passing a ball. He will always look for­ space so he can take back the ball. That is why most­ coaches prefer him to Gerrard. Even when they are both­ playing 2gether, you'll see Gerrard giving Lampard­ the ball. One good thing about these two is that they­ are very good going forward. Gerrard particularly is­ sublime. He can take on the defence while Lampard will­ most likely pass the ball. My take is that these two­ aren't friends at all. There's more competition­ between them than the team they play against. The­ moment Gerrard and Lampard become friends, each player­ will play 4 the other and they will achieve a lot. Its­ not the first time two great midfielders have played­ 2gether.

GERRARD .............WHO IS HE??

So Terry and Cole are not fit to play for their country­ again. Be interesting to see if they are fit to both­ put in a full 90 minutes for Chelsea in their next­ match just like they did after the Croatia Euro­ Qualifier at Wembley, when they were supposedly unfit­ for their country and yet both managed a full 90­ minutes for their club a few days later.

2 more comments from 2 more morons who know naff all­ about football, ASXTC and SAMRNAPIER. Gerrard was­ player of the year for England so where does this under­ achieving come into it? and to say he doesen't care­ about England you dork no-one wears the England shirt­ with more pride than Gerrard and on Wednesday why­ don't you actually try and watch the game and see­ who sets up most attacks, who passes the ball to find­ players and who drops back to defend and control­ midfield I'll give you a clue NO ITS NOT LAMPARD ­ yees youv'e got it Gerrard. Oh i guess looking at­ the comments another 2 moronic blikered Mancs

Terry and Cole missing thank god cos both are average­ at club level but out of their depth at international­ level. Wes Brown and Rio Ferdinand are the best English­ centre backs at the moment and there are plenty of­ players ahead of Cole.

have to agree with the post above, drop gerrard he,s­ not the player he is for liverpool, i like gerrard i do­ but there is no way i,d put him in the england team­ capello must be tripping.

I think that capello has bottled it again with the­ gerrard and lampard situation. We beat Croatia 4-1­ with lampard so its the old saying of if it aint broken­ don't fix it. Lampard has been excellent this­ season so just drop Gerrard easy.

Good try Lisa :)

Did Gerrard have that operation he­ was absent from the Croatia game for?

I'm just an American so I probably don't­ qualify as an expert. However, in my view, Gerrard­ would shine just like he does in Liverpool if Lampard­ were removed and Gerrard were allowed to run the­ midfield. Also, it appears Lampard might be more­ successful when Gerrard is out. Why not try some­ rotation that allows for each of them to play without­ the other. You might get more production when they are­ rotated in and out for each other. Just a thought from­ a Yank!!!

I think that every player should sing the national­ anthem at the start of each game - those who don't­ obviously don't have the heart and passion­ therefore should not play for their country. As to­ Ashley Cole being injured - lets see if he starts for­ Chelsea next match and if he does then Capello should­ be ashamed of himself for dropping him. Stand up and be­ counted, if you make a mistake and get booed then face­ the music, others have done it and come out of it with­ some character the last thing we need to do as a­ national side is pander to ecery whim from pretentious­ players who have no b*lls or passion....

Your not seriously intoning that Gerrard has played as­ well for England as he does for Liverpool.
Have you­ been watching the game in slow-mo reverse or something.­ Gerrard doesn't turn up when England are playing­ (he goes all John Barnes on himself).

LOL....
remember gerrard was player of the year for­ england last year...what make u ppl think that he­ always dun perform well in a england shirt...zzzzz

Bridge in for Cole should do the trick. Quality left­ back is Bridge. Still can't believe that Fat Frank­ and the Scouser can't play in the same team­ together. They are both quality and it's a shame­ to drop one... oh well must be done! I say play­ Lamps.. no Stevie .. no Lamps .. wait.. Stevie..

Why should Gerrard be Captain? Hes a great player when­ playing for Liverpool but just doesn't preform for­ England. Untill Gerrard proves he can preform for­ England the same way he does for Liverpool he­ shouldn't be England captain.

Rio was made deputy about a month to 6 weeks ago it was­ announced on here if i recall and on F Focus after he­ gave the likely candidates a look over, i wonder if­ Gerrard as captain with the responsibility like at club­ level further up the pitch in the mix where some order­ is needed might give him a new lease of life in an­ England shirt, hes still one of Englands best with his­ spread of ability.

I think Fabio Capello must have smacked Cole on his­ thigh after his stupid error in the Kasakhtan game.­ That is why he is suffering from a hamstring injury

Firstly i think if beckham is in the squad then owen­ should be fit too or not, he has proven time and time­ again what a world class striker he is!
also can­ someone clarify for me right or wrong but i thought­ John Terry is England captain and Steven Gerrard deputy­ Captain, if thats still the case why pick Ferdinand as­ captain?

The reason Gerrard is not captain is because he under­ perform all the time when in an England Shirt. He­ doesn't deserve to be captain of his country when­ in effect, he doesnt care!
Ferdinand should've­ been made captain ahead of JT as well.

jean...
my point was capello said that owen playing for­ 90 minutes and scoring goal is not enough..so why the­ hell then he picked bridge....that was my point...your­ the 1 clearly misunderstood others comment...so if a­ player was playing for a top club like bridge even­ though he's not playing all the match he will be­ picked is it??..get it clearly and then make omments­ about others ok...n by the way im not blaming capello­ for not picking up owen...its capello's strategy­ force him to leave owen...but im jus asking him what­ made him to pick bridge while he played a few matches­ only tiz season...go wash ur eyes and read it and­ understand it correctly....ok jean!!!