Best England XI (1978 to 2020)

[Tony Towner]

1. A Cole
2. S Pearce
3. K.Sansom

This

 

[Nando]

Ashley Cole

Just about old enough for Pearce

Wayne Bridge

 

[Deleted Cyber]

Pearce
Le Saux
Sansom

Never got the Cole love. Sorry.

 

[North Shropshire Lad]

Pearce
Le Saux
Sansom

Never got the Cole love. Sorry.

Wow! Everyone's entitled to an opinion.

Cole
Sansom
Pearce

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

Ashley Cole was the best left back in the world for nearly a decade and it wasn't even a particularly close contest.

 

[Sniffer]

I've been looking in advance at the other positions. Is everyone happy with a 4-4-1-1 or 4-4-2?

It may suit to go 4-3-3

Thoughts?

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

I'd go 4-4-2 as we played a variant of that for at least 80% of the time period, probably more.

 

[Deleted Cyber]

Ashley Cole was the best left back in the world for nearly a decade and it wasn't even a particularly close contest.

Personally Maldini and Lahm beat any others in the last 20 years. I also like Lizarazu and ,at times, Roberto Carlos if you are looking at players playing around the same time. Cole was very good. Just didn't float my boat.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

Maldini hardly ever played LB after the 90s, Lahm only ever really played LB for Germany and not for that long either...

 

[North Shropshire Lad]

Some great left backs [Lahm at LB is pushing it] there and an argument to say which is the best - but as Cole's the only English one and the task is to name English left backs, surely he must make your top three?

 

[Deleted Cyber]

Some great left backs [Lahm at LB is pushing it] there and an argument to say which is the best - but as Cole's the only English one and the task is to name English left backs, surely he must make your top three?

I saw Sansom play when the was16 for England school boys. I saw Pearce play several times. Effort, heart, commitment . Le Saux had a better footballing brain for me than Cole. Cole would have been at 4. They called him Cashley for a reason.

I was responding to the "best left back in the world by some distance" which, in my view he wasn't. Hence my use of internationals who were better.

 

[darlowolf64]

Ashley Cole
Stuart Pearce
Kenny Sansom

 

[Paul]

I saw Sansom play when the was16 for England school boys. I saw Pearce play several times. Effort, heart, commitment . Le Saux had a better footballing brain for me than Cole. Cole would have been at 4. They called him Cashley for a reason.

I was responding to the "best left back in the world by some distance" which, in my view he wasn't. Hence my use of internationals who were better.

Do you remember the trips to the schoolboy internationals, went to a few, could of witnessed future stars but I cannot remember anyone individualy,

 

[Deleted Cyber]

Do you remember the trips to the schoolboy internationals, went to a few, could of witnessed future stars but I cannot remember anyone individualy,

Yep saw Sansom when England beat Germany in 1972 4 0. I think. I believe Wilkins played too.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

I saw Ryan Giggs (then Wilson) play for England Schoolboys. 1989.

Think the only other one who made it was Adie Mike who was at Man City and was utter shite. Nick Barmby was involved around the same time but fairly sure he didn't play in the game I went to.

 

[Johnny75]

Ashley Cole
Greame Le Saux
Stuart Pearce

 

[North Shropshire Lad]

Saw Rideout (on tv) play for England schoolboys. No idea why it was televised and he definitely stood out. Also no idea why I remembered his name but I did.

 

[Tony Towner]

They were a bit older than schoolboys and so was I, but I went to this:
https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www....in-allows-hosts-to-reign-jon-1486691.html?amp

 

[Deleted Cyber]

I saw Scotland beat England too that year. 8 years old on a school trip and we all could walk around before the games and meet back at the bus!

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

They were a bit older than schoolboys and so was I, but I went to this:
https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www....in-allows-hosts-to-reign-jon-1486691.html?amp

We were on a week long trip to North Wales with school. Stopped off at a chip shop on the way back from somewhere and I volunteered to go in and get them. They had that on the TV and so I got to see Fowler's free kick.

That's a really good team given the normal hit rate you get in age group football! You see Nicky Butt there ahead of Scholes, all the coaches at United were adamant the former was going to be the next big star out of the group. Raved about him all the time. Good player like but it didn't pan out that way.

Schoolboy internationals were definitely on terrestrial TV up to about 1993 or so. Again, saw one when I was waiting for my game to start at some school chess tournament in Barnet.

I don't think my teachers looked that kindly on me constantly watching football or talking about football. Got a right bollocking when I was 17 and we were supposed to write an essay in French about the 1998 World Cup. I think they had the cultural impact of black-blanc-beur and the like in mind. I used a couple of thousand words to bang on about how France were a bit shit and were nowhere near the best team in the tournament, oh and their fans were shit as well, and England had the talent to go much deeper than they actually did.

It was very well written and everything I'll have you know, although I don't remember explicitly slagging Hoddle off which was a bit of a missed opportunity. Don't ask ambiguous questions if you don't like the answers. They brought it up at the next parents' evening and my Dad just said "well he's right, isn't he" :icon_lol: Cheers man.