The Golden Generation. Remember them?
The group that were destined to restore England’s place back at the top table. That rightful place they earned there half a century ago.
A good squad admittedly but too often they were guilty of trying to fit them all on the pitch. Actually, if they were trying to fit them, it wouldn’t have been so bad. Too often they were just lumping them all on in every which road.
Emile Heskey was part of that generation and he knows full well the value of balance. He thinks a lot of teams are guilty of neglecting their blend for individuals, not just England. Sure hasn’t a certain England man found himself in rare positions for both club and country throughout his career and currently the hot topic of conversation at Old Trafford?
“I’ve watched Rooney play on the left and on the right but everyone knows that his best position is down the middle,” Heskey spoke to SportsJOE. “Sometimes they’re just trying to fit too many players in and you’ve just got to think about what’s the best team to put out there. You might have to miss a couple of players out but that’s just how it happens. It’s how you gel it together.
“You saw the Galacticos for Real Madrid. They were just buying every player and banging them on the pitch thinking they were going to win it and they never did for how long? I think everyone is guilty of that sort of thing but, as a player, you’re not going to complain when you’re playing.”
Burdened with great expectation, the 62 cap international thinks there was an element of demand placed on his country when he was playing, even if they hadn’t been to a final since ’66. At the same time though, he also thinks his sides underachieved a tad.
“I’d say we could’ve done better with the squads that we had,” the striker who was in town for TV3’s Europa League coverage admitted. “We had a better blend of players but then again in ’02 we went out to Brazil, didn’t we? That was probably the closest we got to getting to a final but you’ve got to consider who their strikers were: Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, Rivaldo…
“It takes something special like that to put you out. Rivaldo’s goal was phenomenal. It was a great goal. People forget about that and they went on to win the tournament. We felt like we were that close to beating them, especially because they got a man sent off as well, that was probably the closest we got – but we lost to Brazil.”
So what about the current squad’s chances?
“They’ve got some good players. It’s difficult for England right now because you would say it’s a transitional period of trying to figure out what formation to play and what to do with themselves. They’ve got some good players who are playing at good teams. Good individual players – Wilshere, players like that; Sturridge and Danny Ings is coming, he looks exciting. Andy Carroll. You need different players like that, you can’t have the same players up front all the time. Cahill’s doing reasonably well at the back so it’s looking okay and I believe we’ve got one of the best goalkeepers in world football.” (We’ll assume he meant Fraser Forster…)
Big Heskey though is keen to address that if and when he makes the step into the technical area. He spoke to us during the week about his ambitions to become a coach some day and he’s definitely experienced enough all over the field to know what’s going on. Whilst his size has probably stereotyped the Leicester-born player into a big man role up top, the reality of it is that he has probably proved more versatile than a lot of professionals have.
“When I was younger, I played in every position,” he said. “When I came into the first team, I played left. I made my debut up front but we had two or three established centre forwards already so Martin O’Neill put me on the left. I was quick. I’m quick, I can play on the wing, just run down the wing and cross the ball. So I played on the left because we already had right wingers.
“There was a game when we played three at the back and I played left wing back and there was another game where I had to play centre mid. So I’ve played everywhere, but that will only help your understanding of football. You can do every job – as long as you’re willing to run around and understand the job – you can do every job on the pitch if you wish to. You might not do it specifically as someone who’s thinking ‘that’s my position’, that’s what he’s focused on, but you would do a good job.
“Do you really want to pigeon hole yourself? If you pigeon hole yourself as a holding midfielder and we play a 4-4-2, can I play you? If you pigeon hole yourself as a number 10 and again I play 4-4-2 or I want to play a flat three in the middle, can I play you?”
You’ve heard it, lads. Your future boss has warned you.
Another Liverpool legend comes to Tv3 next week with Luis Garcia analysing the return leg of the Besiktas Europa League clash (Thursday 26 February, 5.50pm). TV3 are also showing Champions League games on Tuesdays with a mouthwatering tie between Manchester City and Barcelona up this Tuesday (7.30pm) with Gaizka Mendieta and Kevin Kilbane.
