For me from what I have seen three players stand out head and shoulders from the rest:-
Charlton, Robson, Gascoine
Charlton, Robson, Gascoine
Who is England's best player ever? (Forget Bobby Charlton)
- Thread starter SCP
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik (@Rood) and Jamie (@Vault Dweller) are here to celebrate rare back-to-back victories for Manchester United! They analyse the late win in the Europa League vs. Rangers and then try and find things to analyse in a pretty dour game vs. Fulham. They also chat about the latest Marcus Rashford news, and look at the latest transfer news.
Banks
Ferdinand, Moore, Cole
Robson
Matthews, Hoddle, Charlton
Keegan, Shearer, Rooney.
11 great players, who probably wouldn't make a great balanced team!
Ferdinand, Moore, Cole
Robson
Matthews, Hoddle, Charlton
Keegan, Shearer, Rooney.
11 great players, who probably wouldn't make a great balanced team!
Maybe not for England but as player overall then Rooney is far above both Shearer and Lineker. Like not even close levels above. I know someone will quote this and talk about Shearer's record but look at penalties, assists and where they played position wise and Rooney is so far ahead it isn't funny. If its overall career then Rooney is instantly in that front 3. If its 'for England' then honestly none of them achieved shit but Rooney is still, currently, the top goalscorer. Either way regardless of what fans think then Rooney has to be there.
If you're asking a 28 year old (United fan) like myself then I have no other answer than Rooney. He somehow managed to become England's and Uniteds top goalscorer despite not being an out and out striker all the time. He was crucial for us for a good 7 or years when it came to winning leagues and being CL favourites.... Stats aside, because they don't paint the whole picture whatsoever, if you compiled a montage of Rooneys top 20 goals then I think it would be hard to find a player that beats him. Those volleys, headers, halfway line goals, set pieces, counter attacking runs (Arsenal)... the guy was the best English footballer for me.
Lineker scored 6 goals at the 1986 World Cup, which won him the golden boot, and he also got to a World cup semi-final on another occasion.
Shearer scored 5 goals at Euro 1996, more than anyone else in the tournament, and England got to the semi-finals.
Based purely on his England career, Rooney isn't even a top 10 England player in my opinion. Apart from Euro 2004 (which I think we'd have won if he didn't get injured, so that's very unlucky), he achieved pretty much nothing in tournaments for England and only scored 1 World Cup goal. Sure, he got the record for the most goals, but what is the point if the vast majority of those goals were against lowly teams in friendlies and qualifiers?
Take away Euro 2004, and I struggle to think of a single important goal that Rooney scored for England.
His career as a whole is obviously a different story, but his impact for England in big games was poor to say the least.
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You do raise a good point. He was brilliant in 2004. His injury and our harshly disallowed goal cost us that game and consequently the tournament I reckon.
No certainties on here....just opinions and all are different.Are we certain Rooney was our best player in the 2000’s? His record in tournaments is pretty lame. 6 goals total in Euro finals which includes 4 in 2004 and 1 goal in WC finals scored in 2014. So one good tournament makes him the best of the 00’s? That’s sad
Yeah so for a top nation like England they achieved jack shit. They obviously achieved more than Rooney but they achieved nothing substantial. If they were Irish those stats would look very good. That's why I wasn't sure of the question. If it's the English national team best player ever then both are above Rooney, however he is the top goalscorer. If its the best English player ever then Rooney is a million miles ahead.
If its the best England national team player ever then its Bobby and I don't know why the poster excepted him from the thread when he got his very obvious answer.
Scholes was better, and had a better career. If Rooney had been more professional, instead of smoking fags and smashing down kebabs, then he might not have declined so drastically after his mid-twenties.
I meant Rooney is better than Shearer and Lineker by far overall. Scholes is also far far better.
Rooney was twice the player Scholes was for me. Maybe listen to what Paul Scholes says about Rooney. Its interesting.
How do you know that Rooney smoked and smashed kebabs lol? The man was fully developed when he was 16 years old. If cigs and kebabs help you become the highest goalscorer of the biggest Club in England and the highest goalscorer of England then maybe we should all follow suit? Give your head a wobble pal.
It was just as easy in the 60s to rack up loads of goals against poor teams as the overall standard was much lower and teams were generally less defensive. 25 of Sir Bobby’s goals came in matches where England scored 4 or more. That’s slightly less than Kane (29) but more than Rooney (20) and Lineker (17).
Sir Bobby is still England’s greatest ever player though.
3rd place: Stevie the DJ slapper
2nd place Fat Frank
1st Herr Big Man JT
2nd place Fat Frank
1st Herr Big Man JT
I can't believe there were weaker teams than the likes of San Marino, Faroe Islands, Moldova, Luxembourg , Scotland and these sort of teams that Kane trousers 10 or so a year against, with 3 or 4 pens.
Some of England’s scores in the 60s:
9-0 (Luxembourg)
9-3 (Scotland)
8-0 (Mexico)
8-1 (Switzerland)
8-3 (Northern Ireland)
10-0 (USA)
You get the idea…
Has to be a 66 player. I never like to name player before I started watching as the best ever, just because how can I judge without watching week in week out. So if I just do the best of the last 20 or so years it’s Rooney, Beckham, Kane. Probably in that order. Maybe Gerard and Shearer too.
No wind-up and to say he barely makes top 20 proves you have an agenda with the player like so many others on this forum.
Forget his cups and medals won or lost. He played in an era at Liverpool when they were't dominating as they had done previous years. Sir Alex saw to that!
Looking at the player alone he had just about every attribute you want from a footballer. So no no wind-up!!