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Uncle Albert

Paul Scholes or Steven Gerrard?

By Uncle Albert, in General Football and Sport

  

172 members have voted

  1. 1. Who would you have in your side?

    • Steven Gerrard
      75
    • Paul Scholes
      97

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Uncle Albert

Uncle Albert

Posted
Posted

Well this has sparked a good debate in that whiskey nose thread, so may as well give it a thread of their own.

 

My question is, would Paul Scholes have stood out like he has for Man United if he was playing in the average Liverpool side that Steven Gerrard has and would Gerrard have been as effective of a player like Scholes has if he was a Man United player?

 

My opinion is they are both two of the greatest midfielders this country has seen, Gerrard for me is a little more of a complete player so he edges it. That's not me saying Scholes was poor, he was world class.

RobHawk

RobHawk

Posted
Posted

I would take Gerrard every day of the week. Scholes was a very good player but i always felt he was a little over rated! 

Aus Fox

Aus Fox

Posted
Posted

Scholes good will be forgotten a couple of years after retirement.

Gerrard a great for his team.

Gerrard a quality performer for England Scholes turned his back when it got difficult.

Fox92

Fox92

Posted
Posted

Gerrard is my favourite footballer. But regardless of that, I'd still go for Gerrard.

 

There isn't much he cannot do. He is a complete midfielder... Can pick a pass, tackle, good in the air, scores goals from any distance and obviously captain of the side. 

 

I do like Scholes though. Both have been very good players for their respective sides.

Mack

Mack

Posted
Posted

Scholes for me.

Gerrard is a better allrounder but if you put an engine room type of player next to Scholes to win the ball then give it to Scholes he is a genius. Keane and Scholes together.... in English Football is cant get much better, only Viera and alongside some of his old Arsenal team mates can compete for me. 

GLC

GLC

Posted
Posted

Scholes for me.

Gerrard is a better allrounder but if you put an engine room type of player next to Scholes to win the ball then give it to Scholes he is a genius. Keane and Scholes together.... in English Football is cant get much better, only Viera and alongside some of his old Arsenal team mates can compete for me. 

 

 

You obvioulsy never saw Gareth Williams and Stephen Hughes in the middle for us....... Majestic  :ph34r: 

breadandcheese

breadandcheese

Posted
Posted

A vote like this is judging between a ferrari and a lamborghini, but ultimately, where Scholes is concerned, he didn't do the spectacular and so never got the credit he deserved.  

 

The original question of whether Scholes would have stood out for an average Liverpool team in the way that Gerrard did is wrong.  In my opinion, the average Liverpool team (which still won trophies and finished second on occasions) fell apart after Alonso left.  Alonso was the brain and orchestrator of the team.  Gerrard may have added guts and determination, but without Alonso, it meant little.  Furthermore, Benitez never fully trusted Gerrard in the central role.  He was either on the right or playing off Torres, in positions where it didn't matter as much if he lost possession.  

 

If Scholes had been playing for Liverpool in Alonso's position rather than United, you would be talking about another great Liverpool team and an average United team.  I believe he was the difference between turning a decent team into a great team and allowed other players to flourish and get the goals they did.

 

The best judges are always those involved in the game.

 

  • "My toughest opponent? Scholes of Manchester. He is the complete midfielder. Scholes is undoubtedly the greatest midfielder of his generation." [16]
    • Zinedine Zidane, World Cup winning France midfielder and three-time FIFA World Player of the Year
  • "Paul Scholes is a role model. For me – and I really mean this – he's the best central midfielder I've seen in the last 15, 20 years. I've spoken to Xabi Alonso about him. He's spectacular, he has it all: the last pass, goals, he's strong, he doesn't lose the ball, vision. If he'd been Spanish he might have been rated more highly. Players love him." [30]
  • “Out of everyone at Manchester United, I would pick out Scholes – he is the best midfielder of his generation. I would have loved to have played alongside him.†[37]
  • “I’m star-struck when I see Paul Scholes because you never see him. On the pitch you can’t catch him. Off the pitch he disappears.†[34]
  • “At La Masia (Barcelona’s Academy) his name was mentioned a lot. He’s a teacher.†[35]
  • “Good enough to play for Brazil. I love to watch Scholes, to see him pass, the boy with the red hair and the red shirt.†[52]
  • "There is no doubt for me that Paul Scholes is still in a class of his own. He’s almost untouchable in what he does. I never tire of watching him play. You rarely come across the complete footballer, but Scholes is as close to it as you can get. One of my regrets is that the opportunity to play alongside him never presented itself during my career." [22]
  • “It’s a shame he’s not available to play for England. If he was, he’d be the first name in my squad.†[43]
  • “He’s always one of those people others talk about. Even playing at Real Madrid, the players always say to me ‘what’s he like’? They respect him as a footballer and see him as the ultimate.†[42]
Kitchandro

Kitchandro

Posted
Posted

Difficult one tbh, but I'd probably go for Gerrard, just because of those performances where he's dragged his team through matches. It's really special when you see things like the Champions League and FA Cup finals he was in.

breadandcheese

breadandcheese

Posted
Posted

 

PFA Team of the Year

Gerrard - 7 (2000-01, 2003-04, 2004-05, 2005-06, 2006-07, 2007-08, 2008-09)

Scholes - 2 (2002-03 & 2006-07)

 

 

I understand what you're saying, but I always think of the PFA team of the year as a fashionable item (perhaps unfairly), where votes are based on trends or fashionable picks, rather than absolute ability.  So on this basis, the likes of James Milner got picked in 2010 for Aston Villa because he was performing well and stood out in the Villa team.  Now he's at a bigger better team in Man City, he's nowhere near getting in the PFA team of the year as he doesn't stand out or garner headlines.

 

Another example is Xabi Alonso.  I maintain that he was the brains behind the Liverpool team when he played, yet never got into the PFA team of the year, whereas Gerrard did as he got the headlines.

 

Edit: Interestingly (and to back up my point), Gerrard has failed to make a PFA team of the year since Alonso left Liverpool in 2009.   

Jimothy

Jimothy

Posted
Posted

Man Utd won 12 league titles with Scholes.

Gerrard won the Champions League and FA Cup for Liverpool.

That's the difference. Scholes is great, fantastic player, Gerrard is just that next level up.

Miquel The Work Geordie

Miquel The Work Geordie

Posted
Posted

Man Utd won 12 league titles with Scholes.

Gerrard won the Champions League and FA Cup for Liverpool.

 

I understand what the point you're trying to convey is but I think that's doing a monster disservice to some of the other Liverpool players involved in those two finals.

 

You could quite as easily counter by saying that Dudek won the Champions League for Liverpool with some outrageous feats of goalkeeping.

Jimothy

Jimothy

Posted
Posted

I understand what the point you're trying to convey is but I think that's doing a monster disservice to some of the other Liverpool players involved in those two finals.

You could quite as easily counter by saying that Dudek won the Champions League for Liverpool with some outrageous feats of goalkeeping.

Fair point. I just think had Scholes not been there Utd would still have most if not all of those titles. It might have been closer but I think they would still have been good enough. Without Gerrard Liverpool would never have lifted those trophies and probably never got near the finals.

Man Utd were always a bit like a clock, where every player was a cog. You could take cogs out and replace them with similar but poorer quality cogs and the clock still works, just not quite as well. Scholes was a cog, an important one, but still a cog that was replaceable. Liverpool were more like a car, and Gerrard the engine, without him nothing worked. And replacing him was like putting a hamster in a wheel to power a Ferrari.

Guest MattP

Guest MattP

Posted
Posted

Does anyone know how many times Gerrard and Scholes have been in the PFA Team of the Year?

 

lol lol

 

The question.

 

Big one off game - Gerrard.

 

A whole season - Scholes.

breadandcheese

breadandcheese

Posted
Posted

Fair point. I just think had Scholes not been there Utd would still have most if not all of those titles. It might have been closer but I think they would still have been good enough. Without Gerrard Liverpool would never have lifted those trophies and probably never got near the finals.

Man Utd were always a bit like a clock, where every player was a cog. You could take cogs out and replace them with similar but poorer quality cogs and the clock still works, just not quite as well. Scholes was a cog, an important one, but still a cog that was replaceable. Liverpool were more like a car, and Gerrard the engine, without him nothing worked. And replacing him was like putting a hamster in a wheel to power a Ferrari.

 

I think this is a common misconception.  Alonso was the orchestrator of that Liverpool team, not Gerrard.  Gerrard, as great a player as he is (and he is one of the Premier League's best ever), was not and has never been a one-man team.  True, he got the headlines because he was in the positions of glory.  However,  Alonso was the reason he was able to get the headlines as he was the player who kept the ball ticking over and played the passes through to Gerrard.

 

Look at Liverpool's Premier League finishes:

 

With Alonso:                            Alonso goes to Real Madrid:

2005: 5                                    2010: 7

2006: 3                                    2011: 6

2007: 3                                    2012: 8

2008: 4                                    2013: 7

2009: 2

 

In my opinion, I think that if Liverpool had Scholes rather than Alonso, they would have won the league.

Bert

Bert

Posted
Posted

Schloes was better technically, for sure. But as stated Gerrard is a bit more complete.

 

 

It's such a tough choice, and overall I think I'd prefer to see Gerrard in my team. Both world class players.

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