England's Golden Generation were 'egotistical losers' - Gerrard

[davieG]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/cq653600zdqo

 

Former captain Steven Gerrard says England's so-called 'Golden Generation' were "egotistical losers" and blames a lack of success with the Three Lions on a shortage of team spirit.

Gerrard, 45, won 114 caps and played at six major tournaments without reaching a semi-final.

The former Liverpool captain believes an England manager should have been able to play him with Chelsea's Frank Lampard and Manchester United's Paul Scholes in a successful midfield.

Gerrard, who played his full career in England with Liverpool before a final season at LA Galaxy, says players at the time were too reluctant to mix with team-mates who played for rival clubs.

Speaking as a guest on the Rio Ferdinand Presents podcast, external, Gerrard said: "We were all egotistical losers.

"I watch the telly now and I see Jamie Carragher sitting next to Paul Scholes and they look like they've been best mates for 20 years.

"And I see Carragher's relationship with Gary Neville and they look like they've been mates for 20 years. I'm probably more close and friendly with you [Ferdinand] now than I ever was when I played with you for 15 years [for England].

"So why didn't we connect when we were 20, 21, 22, 23? Was it ego? Was it rivalry?

"It was down to the culture within England. We weren't friendly or connected. We weren't a team. We never at any stage became a real good, strong team."

'I hated it'
Gerrard played for England for 14 years under five full-time managers, beginning with Kevin Keegan and ending with Roy Hodgson at the 2014 World Cup.

He captained England 38 times - the sixth-most - and while he loved playing for his country, says no manager got the culture around the squad correct.

"I hated it. I didn't enjoy it. Hated the [hotel] rooms," he said.

"In my early days, I'd have days where I was down, like low down. Like I'm in this room for seven hours, what am I going to do?

"There was no social media, we didn't have a DVD player or anything. Channel 1 to 5 or whatever it was on TV. I used to get low and down.

"I used to love the games. I used to love playing for England. I was really proud. I used to enjoy the training sessions but it was 90 minutes a day. And then I was just on my own.

"I didn't feel part of a team. I didn't feel connected with my team-mates with England.

"I didn't feel that with Liverpool. They were the best days of my life. I felt like the staff looked over me, like I felt special. I felt like I couldn't wait to get there. With England, I just wanted the games and the training sessions and then to be away."

'Southgate is underrated'
 

After years of international disappointments, England reached the World Cup semi-final in 2018 before back-to-back Euros finals under Gareth Southgate.

Southgate has been widely lauded for fostering a better culture and atmosphere inside the squad, with players seeming to get on better no matter who they play for.

His replacement Thomas Tuchel leads his current squad against Wales and Latvia this week, with the German saying he wants strong team spirit in his squad.

Gerrard said: "Gareth Southgate is underrated for how he connected with the England team.

"Because for me, the talent was there [in my time]. The players were there. The level of games we were all playing at was there to go and do better than what we did.

"We had a little bit of bad luck with penalties or whatever. We have to take responsibility, but I've got a big frustration when I look back at England that we never did better.

"I think it's a combination of different things, but one of the big things for me was we weren't a team. We were a group of individuals with talent and it never works like that."

[Fox92]

I've seen the interview with Ferdinand and he comes across as honest, whether it be talking about Liverpool or England.

[AKCJ]

Every player in that era can't come to terms with the fact they weren't good enough.

 

They look for every excuse under the sun when the reality is that they just didn't perform.

[Lionator]

2002 - beaten by the last great Brazilian team, man for man better than England.

2004 - drew with Portugal who were on home soil and lost a shootout.

2006 - star striker let them down by getting sent off. 
 

Luck is involved in a lot of these things. The Southgate generation had a lot of very lucky draws where they didn’t meet a good team until the latter stages, when they always got found out. That team could’ve won something but 1%’s went against them. Doesn’t mean they were a bad side. 

[Fox92]

1 hour ago, AKCJ said:

Every player in that era can't come to terms with the fact they weren't good enough.

 

They look for every excuse under the sun when the reality is that they just didn't perform.

We played really good opposition though. Brazil that included Ronaldo and Cafu, France that included Zidane and Henry, Portugal that included Figo and Rui Costa... I think our team was really good but so were oppositions. Which is the difference when comparing to Southgate's team and we were lucky to not play opposition as strong (and when we did, France or Croatia, we lost anyway).

 

The "golden generation" team would have been more successful nowadays considering the opposition. 

[purpleronnie]

Mentally I don't think they ever were good enough, when the big moments happened more often and not they didn't rise to the challenge.  Ability with the ball is only part of what makes a winning team.  England always seem to lack the mental strength.  Not sure what you can do about that.

[RoboFox]

They've all said something similar before and it continues to be a load of bollocks.

 

A few European and South American big hitters also had "golden generations" during this time. 

 

Think of France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Portugal, Brazil. All absolutely chocka with world class players at one stage or another during this period. 

 

And their sides were just better than England's. That's all there is to it.

[AKCJ]

1 hour ago, Fox92 said:

We played really good opposition though. Brazil that included Ronaldo and Cafu, France that included Zidane and Henry, Portugal that included Figo and Rui Costa... I think our team was really good but so were oppositions. Which is the difference when comparing to Southgate's team and we were lucky to not play opposition as strong (and when we did, France or Croatia, we lost anyway).

 

The "golden generation" team would have been more successful nowadays considering the opposition. 

Not good enough doesn't mean they were bad.

 

There's an idea of "How did that team not win anything" that the likes of Ferdinand, Neville, Gerrard, Lampard etc whinge about when the reality is that it was a golden age of football. Every top international side was rammed full of world class players performing to a high level.

[Stadt]

Good to see fresh perspectives on the under discussed podcasts. I just wish we could get some insight into Manchester United under Fergie too

[Corky]

55 minutes ago, Stadt said:

Good to see fresh perspectives on the under discussed podcasts. I just wish we could get some insight into Manchester United under Fergie too

 "I'll tell you something, that man was a winner".

[ealingfox]

5 hours ago, Lionator said:

2002 - beaten by the last great Brazilian team, man for man better than England.

2004 - drew with Portugal who were on home soil and lost a shootout.

2006 - star striker let them down by getting sent off. 
 

Luck is involved in a lot of these things. The Southgate generation had a lot of very lucky draws where they didn’t meet a good team until the latter stages, when they always got found out. That team could’ve won something but 1%’s went against them. Doesn’t mean they were a bad side. 

 

We should have won that Brazil game. We were all over them in the first half.

 

Was 2004 one of the two dodgy Sol Campbell disallowed goals as well?

[spacemunky]

Sometimes I feel that putting on the England shirt feels like a heavy weight to the players. So much expectation and it's more of a burden, rather than an honour.

 

I'd like to actually see the players enjoying themselves, instead of being scared of failing. You cant play good football if that's your mentality.

 

I had hoped someone like Bellingham, being a bit cocky, would be the leader that was needed, but I'm not even sure he is now. Maybe that weight has managed to drag him down now too.

[Corky]

2002 was ok, 2004 England played some good football and were unfortunate to go out. 2006-2016 was dire, barely any memorable tournament matches.

[deejdeej]

32 minutes ago, Corky said:

2002 was ok, 2004 England played some good football and were unfortunate to go out. 2006-2016 was dire, barely any memorable tournament matches.

Agreed. 2004 was our best chance. 2006 was touted as the golden generation but the football was so bland. Rooney was at his exciting best in 2004 and Owen was still a great goalscorer albeit not at his best, the midfield was a bit younger and fresher too. Unfortunately we had David James in goal

[Lionator]

1 hour ago, spacemunky said:

Sometimes I feel that putting on the England shirt feels like a heavy weight to the players. So much expectation and it's more of a burden, rather than an honour.

 

I'd like to actually see the players enjoying themselves, instead of being scared of failing. You cant play good football if that's your mentality.

 

I had hoped someone like Bellingham, being a bit cocky, would be the leader that was needed, but I'm not even sure he is now. Maybe that weight has managed to drag him down now too.

That era was pretty mental to be fair. Remember us beating Argentina in a friendly in Geneva and it be like we won the World Cup. Everyone would tune in for every England game whether it was Albania away or Macedonia at home. 

[Lionator]

1 hour ago, ealingfox said:

 

We should have won that Brazil game. We were all over them in the first half.

 

Was 2004 one of the two dodgy Sol Campbell disallowed goals as well?

Through my hazy memories of watching it at school at 8am, Brazil basically wanted it more in the end. Seaman missed a cross, Beckham chickened out of a tackle etc. 

 

And yeah the officiating in that 2004 was pretty suspect but then Ricardo had the game of his life between the sticks. 

[Tommy G]

Egotistical winners though Stevie, as most of them you knocked around with on England camps had won a premier league title.