Saturday 13 December 2014 07:21, UK
Alan Shearer picks the best 11 players he has played alongside in his #One2Eleven.
The Premier League's all-time leading scorer, who had spells with Southampton, Blackburn Rovers and Newcastle United, admits it was tough to leave out the likes of Tim Flowers and Russell Osman...
GOALKEEPER : David Seaman
He was such an imposing guy and great off the deck, which is so important for a goalkeeper. He was so commanding, he gave his back four great authority and they trusted him which is very important.
RIGHT-BACK: Gary Neville
He didn’t mind getting forward but he enjoyed defending and was very good at it. He was also good at getting balls into the box and he liked to attack, but because of his fitness and agility he could get up and down the line. He was a very good defender and an organiser.
CENTRE-BACK: Colin Hendry
He loved defending and loved to put his head in where it hurt, he loved to be the last man saving it off the line, trying to be the heroic one, and more often than not he was. He played a huge part in helping us win the title with Blackburn in 1995.
CENTRE-BACK: Tony Adams
We had some great battles over the years, he came off with cuts on his head and I did too, but the good thing about it was we both shook hands at the end of the game. I respected him and realised what a tough and top defender he was.
LEFT-BACK: Stuart Pearce
He epitomised everything that was right about English football. He was the typical bulldog spirit and he could also get forward. He had great character, to miss a penalty as he did in 1990 and then come back and take another in 1996 shows what a great character he was and you knew what you were going to get from Stuart once he crossed that line and went on the pitch.
MIDFIELD: Rob Lee
A very underestimated player who got over 20 caps for England. He could do everything, he could sit in front of the back four if you wanted him to marshal the midfield. He set up a few up for me, as he keeps reminding me, although I like to think I made his bad passes into good ones!
MIDFIELD: Paul Gascoigne
Not only could he pick a pass but he could go past two or three players - he was a genius with that football at his feet. He was also great for the dressing room, what he would have been like at club level I don’t know. I am sure he would have been an absolute pain in the backside because turning up to work every day not knowing what you were going to get in the dressing room or on the training pitch might have been a nightmare for some players. But to have it once every once every four or five weeks as I did when we went away with England was great fun. He was a great lad and great to have around but first and foremost he was a great player.
MIDFIELD: Paul Scholes
I have heard people say over the years that you have to play with him to appreciate how good he was and he was very good. Like Gazza, he could do most things with a football, he was this sort of silent assassin. He could put his foot in and leave his foot in but he could score goals like all three of the midfielders. He played on at such a high level, at a top club, and achieved great things. That’s why he was a must to have in the midfield.
FORWARD: Teddy Sheringham
That partnership we had with England was a great partnership. Before Euro 96 I hadn’t scored for about 13 or 14 games, so the pressure was on, if there was one guy I would have had beside me it would have been Teddy, just to calm me. It was a matter of us getting off to a good start in that first game in ’96 and we did. I managed to score, then again against Scotland, then Holland and Germany, it was a great tournament to be involved in. The only downside was losing in the semi-finals to eventual winners Germany!
FORWARD: Matt Le Tissier
I did a lot of his running, as he will probably tell you, when I went into the team at Southampton, but what he lacked in fitness he made up in natural ability. He was one of these guys that was just so relaxed, whatever happened just happened, he never got phased by anything. He was great at dead balls, unbelievable at free-kicks and penalties. My goals ratio went right up when I went to Blackburn because other people were prepared to run around for me and I was allowed to take free-kicks and penalties also which helped!
FORWARD: Les Ferdinand
A guy who had a great presence and one of the best leaps I have seen. I only had one season with him at Newcastle but in that season together I think we got 49 goals between us. We could stand in the tunnel and look at the other team and we actually saw fear, which gave us great confidence. For 12 months we had great fun playing alongside each other.
