Yeah but I think Gerrard is a forward thinking player. Granted he runs box to box but he's not usually about doing the dirty work protecting the back 4, which is where England now have a problem. They have a derth of attacking options but scant defensive options other than Nicky Butt and Phil Neville.
When it comes down to it you can't play a 4 man midfield containing Beckham, Gerrard, Scholes and Lampard at the level England are going to play in Euro2004, it's too attacking and the well-balanced French team would have little difficulty picking holes in the 4 man England defense with no real cover. Now Beckham's the capt and is a great player so he's not going to be dropped. Steven Gerrard is the form player so he has to be in the team and you need 1 DMF, either Butt or P Neville.
I'll leave the choice of another midfielder for a second to discuss the left of midfield. Kieron Dyer is considered a more natural winger, but has been far from impressive down the left. Playing 2 LB's (Cole and Bridge) isn't going to solve the problem because neither plays LMF for their club so their experience in midfield is zero and that makes that a non-starter. So that position is still vacant.
Back to the Lampard Scholes debate. Lampard's played very well for his club this season, but I think Scholes should be 1st choice. You've heard respected coaches and ex-pro's talking recently and every single one of them say that Scholes is England's best player. So why leave your best player on the bench? He's a midfielder that gets goals (usually). There has been no outcry of 'drop Owen' in the press, since he hadn't scored since September until last night (and that's the 'best' striker England has to offer) like there has been over Scholes.
To avoid going into the now tiresome debate over Scholes or Lampard I'd pick Scholes if we insist on a 2 man striker force. If it were my decision however I'd still drop Owen or Rooney in favour of accomodating Scholes and Lampard in the midfield. Scholes can operate as a support striker or attacking midfielder you see.
So the left. Out of the midfielders I've picked 4 have any real experience in wide positions, Beckham, Phil Neville, Gerrard and Scholes. Beckham's down the right, and Phil Neville's the holding midfielder (no use putting your holding midfielder on the left now). So it's Gerrard or Scholes. Gerrard's a bit more versatile in this deparment I think, he's put in impressive displays down the left for England and I've seen him do it for Liverpool as when when required so I'd give him the spot and Scholes is the most advance midfielder with Lampard providing a roaming link in the middle at long distance shooting range and support for Phil Neville.
