4 Gerrard, 8 Lampard

Let me make it clear from the offing that I personally feel that any more discussion of this fucking subject could drive me to drive around Cumbria (too soon?) with a shotgun hanging out of the window and plead "prolonged discussion of whether Gerrard and Lampard can play in the same midfield" as the cause in my murder-suicide note.

That aside, I'll try to be brief:

• England rarely lost with Gerrard and Lampard in midfield, despite what fucking idiots think. This is not entirely relevant to the main argument, but still.
• Lampard is a brilliant midfielder, whose poor form at WC 2006 somehow allowed moronic fans to ignore his superb form in Euro 2004, every qualifiying campaign with England, every year with Chelsea, his vital Champions League goals, etc. etc. Lampard is a great passer, he puts in a shift, he scores shitloads of goals, he doesn't shirk responsibility ...
• Gerrard is not a particularly good central midfield player, despite his early promise. Somewhere between 2002 and 2004, he became far better if he played in a more advanced role, and now has very little tactical discipline. He is also unbelievably shit at backpasses.
• England therefore would be far better off selecting a different player alongside Lampard. Gareth Barry, whilst not exactly Wolfgang fucking Overath, is a decent player, who can pass the ball, win the ball, and remain in a consistent position for about 90 minutes, which is the role Gerrard was generally given when he played with Lampard. A role that he, as established above, is shit at.
• Gerrard is a fairly good attacking player, and has a reputation for moments of individual genius for his club, particularly when most required. Therefore, Gerrard probably deserves his place in the national side, as long as he's not used in central midfield.
• However, Gareth Barry has become injured (imagine trying to nurture a belief that you could win the World Cup and then believing that an injury to Gareth Batty would somehow derail it? If Gareth Barry is vital to your team, you're not about to win the World Cup). England will thus require a different partner to Lampard.
• Michael Carrick and James Milner are the other central midfielders in the England squad. Despite being fairly limited in the position, Gerrard is clearly the best other option to start in central midfield. So he'll play there until Barry's fit, and then he won't play there.

So it's not really rocket science; if I can understand it, I'm sure Capello can. Or in any sense brief, for that matter. Fuck, reareading that is like watching Shoah. I'm already twitching, and I fucking wrote it. If that cunt Richard Williams writes anymore about these two, I'm going to have to start carrying around Xanax and bibles.