Really, Ruben?
The debate that will never go away: Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard or Paul Scholes?
Club loyalties will always sway people’s opinions in this debate around England’s greatest ever midfielder, and the trio all had slightly different strengths and weaknesses, but supporters will argue until the cows come home over who was the best.
Toni Kroos recently weighed in on the debate on Twitter, claiming that Manchester United legend Paul Scholes was the best of the three.
Paul Scholes https://t.co/U301mtgHsQ
— Toni Kroos (@ToniKroos) December 11, 2017
Answering fans’ questions in an interview with Sky Sports, Crystal Palace stars Wilfried Zaha and Ruben Loftus-Cheek had their say and, somewhat surprisingly, both went for Gerrard.
Being a Chelsea boy and playing in the same position, you would have expected Loftus-Cheek to opt for Lampard but there was something about the former Liverpool captain which earned the plaudits of both players. The Chelsea loanee praised Gerrard’s leadership:
“Obviously Lampard was top at what he did, and what he did was score goals, and no other midfielder can do that like Lamps. But the way Gerrard leads as well, I’d say Gerrard.”
Zaha recalled Gerrard impressing him in an England training session on one of the few occasions the pair were in the same national team squad:
“The way he plays, controls the game, technique, the way he strikes the ball. I remember training with England, and he hit the ball with such power, and no run-up. I’d have to run from the halfway line to smash that as hard as he’s hit that!”
Just to make us all feel very old, both players admitted they had not seen enough of Paul Scholes to be able to make an educated judgement. Zaha said:
“Obviously I know how good Scholes is, but I didn’t really watch him, I didn’t really see too much of him. Someone asked Toni Kroos the same question and he said Scholes, so I was thinking this guy must be unreal.”
Palace’s talisman also laughed off suggestions that teammate Andros Townsend is faster than him.
“I can’t even believe that’s a question, I am way faster than Andros. He just makes loads of movements so it looks like he’s going somewhere but he’s not!”
I’m sure Townsend will be thrilled to hear that his teammate is so confident in him.
