Euro 96/Euro 24 best XI

[Mainoonited]

Inspired by a question that was on the Rest is Football podcast, who would be your Euro 96 and Euro 24 best 11.

I think my team would be as below.

Seaman
TAA Adams Maguire Pearce
Ince Rice Bellingham
Gazza
Kane Shearer​

Possibly consider Neville and Shaw instead of TAA and Pearce.

Would definitely have Foden, Palmer, Saka, Stones on the bench.

 

[Pascal Quiff]

Inspired by a question that was on the Rest is Football podcast, who would be your Euro 96 and Euro 24 best 11.

I think my team would be as below.

Seaman
TAA Adams Maguire Pearce
Ince Rice Bellingham
Gazza
Kane Shearer​

Possibly consider Neville and Shaw instead of TAA and Pearce.

Would definitely have Foden, Palmer, Saka, Stones on the bench.

All at their very best:

Seaman

TAA Adams Campbell Pearce

McManaman Ince Bellingham

Gascoigne

Kane Shearer

 

[Mainoonited]

All at their very best:

Seaman

TAA Adams Campbell Pearce

McManaman Ince Bellingham

Gascoigne

Kane Shearer

I think we'd ought to consider the 2024 and 1996 versions.

Can't say i remember much of 96 McManaman. Based on Peak career performances you're probably right though. IDK about TAA over Neville - Neville was the better alrounder, TAA is elite in his attacking ability.

 

[Remember the geese]

All at their very best:

Seaman

TAA Adams Campbell Pearce

McManaman Ince Bellingham

Gascoigne

Kane Shearer

Trent has never been a guaranteed starter for England. Far from it in fact.

 

[Zen86]

Seaman

Neville Maguire Adams Pearce

Ince

Bellingham Gascoigne McManaman

Kane Shearer

 

[harms]

Maguire shouldn't even be in the starting XI for this Euros, let alone in any sort of a combined team. Stones would be my first bench option if anything happens with other centre backs.

Seaman
Neville - Adams - Campbell - ?Shaw?
Rice
Saka - Bellingham - Gascoigne
Kane - Shearer
​

Although Pearce instead of Shaw probably makes sense considering that the latter missed most of this season.

It's really hard to create a well-balanced XI considering that you want to put at least three central midfielders in (out of Ince, Gascoigne, Rice, Bellingham) but you're also left with no choice but to play Kane and Shearer as a pair up front (really harsh on Fowler but he's going to be the first sub). Foden is also close to the starting XI (it would be weird not to consider him after such a season) but he hasn't been all that impressive for England so far, so I've benched him — I also wanted at least one genuine wing player in the team.

 

[GueRed]

Inspired by a question that was on the Rest is Football podcast, who would be your Euro 96 and Euro 24 best 11.

I think my team would be as below.

Seaman
TAA Adams Maguire Pearce
Ince Rice Bellingham
Gazza
Kane Shearer​

Possibly consider Neville and Shaw instead of TAA and Pearce.

Would definitely have Foden, Palmer, Saka, Stones on the bench.

Neville for Trent

And as a pair I wouldnt want to break up the Shearer/Sheringham partnership

Only problem with this line-up is there isn't enough width..

 

[youngrell]

Seaman
Neville - Adams - Southgate
McManaman - Ince - Gascoigne - Saka
Bellingham
Sheringham - Shearer​

 

[Wonder Pigeon]

Probably the most interesting question here is how to maximise how you use Kane/Shearer. Probably Kane would be able to do Sheringham's role in the 96' 4-1-4-1 quite well, but is that the best use of him? As two 9s up top, would he and Shearer get in each other's way? Possibly since it's before pre-injuries Shearer, he'd be mobile enough to alternate with Kane during games about who hangs back at 10. On paper it's a no-brainer pairing but it would need a bit of thinking to actually make the best use of it.

Seaman
Walker Stones Adams Pearce
Ince
Saka Bellingham Foden
Kane
Shearer

That might allow for a bit of flexibility - Stones can tuck in with Ince and the front 5 can overwhelm the defenders, Kane and Shearer hanging around for cut back taps in, or Bellingham can go box-to-box while Saka and Foden whip in crosses old-school.

 

[Bobski]

Just as an aside McManaman was an excellent player, always caused Utd a ton of issues, quick, good touch, very hard to dispossess, passed the ball well, moved very well with the ball. I think would probably take him ahead of Grealish.

Very underrated player

I think guys like Foden and Saka would be much less effective playing as traditional wingers serving 2 strikers, something that would have to be considered if you want Kane and Shearer.

 

[Oranges038]

I think we'd ought to consider the 2024 and 1996 versions.

Can't say i remember much of 96 McManaman. Based on Peak career performances you're probably right though. IDK about TAA over Neville - Neville was the better alrounder, TAA is elite in his attacking ability.

According to the PL website.

Neville Hs 35 assists from 182 crosses. TAA has 58 assists from 1661 crosses. Neville also has 5 goals from 14 shots, TAA has 15 goals from 271 shot.

TAA is just a spam artist and he can't defend, throw enough shit at the wall and some of it will eventually stick. Neville was just a better more measured player and as you say a better all rounder, he also has the trophies to back it up.

Standard 44fooking2 and true England fashion I'm going to shove players in to suit it, at least you can have a left footer on the wing.

Seaman
Neville Campbell Adams Pearce
Bellingham Rice Ince Foden
Shearer Kane​

 

[redmeister]

Kane is a better 10 than Sheringham and a better 9 than Shearer.

 

[dcrompton]

Lots of people selecting Sol Campbell who played all of 5 minutes v Scotland in whole of Euro 96

 

[Gio]

From the 1996 team there are a few players who have to be in:

• Seaman - at the peak of his powers, commanding and saved England against Scotland and Spain.
• Adams - likewise at his peak and led the defence well. England would benefit immensely from having him now.
• Gascoigne - made them tick. England caved in and lost control during the 15 minutes he was off the park against Switzerland.
• Shearer - at his peak and had a great tournament

And then I think both Ince and McManaman had fine tournaments and are somewhat under-rated in retrospect.

Seaman
Walker - Stones - Adams - Pearce*
Rice
Saka - Gascoigne - Bellingham
Shearer - Kane​

*Le Saux would be the left-back but for his injury.

The teams don't merge that well tbh. The weakest position is probably left-back in both given Pearce was almost 34 and Shaw / Chilwell have been off it. Ince and Rice are interchangeable but cannot have both. McManaman and Foden should really be in amongst it. Sheringham is probably a more synergistic partner for Shearer than Kane, but at this stage of their careers it should still work.

​

 

[Gio]

Neville Hs 35 assists from 182 crosses. TAA has 58 assists from 1661 crosses. Neville also has 5 goals from 14 shots, TAA has 15 goals from 271 shot.

I imagine those crosses and shots numbers for Neville were not captured at all for the bulk of his career. For example, those figures would suggest he averaged less than a solitary cross every two games, and took fewer than one shot per season.

 

[harms]

According to the PL website.

Neville Hs 35 assists from 182 crosses. TAA has 58 assists from 1661 crosses. Neville also has 5 goals from 14 shots, TAA has 15 goals from 271 shot.

TAA is just a spam artist and he can't defend, throw enough shit at the wall and some of it will eventually stick. Neville was just a better more measured player and as you say a better all rounder, he also has the trophies to back it up.

Standard 44fooking2 and true England fashion I'm going to shove players in to suit it, at least you can have a left footer on the wing.

Seaman
Neville Campbell Adams Pearce
Bellingham Rice Ince Foden
Shearer Kane​

I wouldn’t trust detailed stats from the late 90’s/early 00’s. I’d imagine that PL counted assists correctly as you only need to rewatch every goal scored season by season, but I don’t think that they’re going to invest their resources into rewatching every PL game just to count the number of crosses, accurate passes etc. — and they didn’t use to collect that data before the mid 00’s.

 

[Lay]

Gary Neville is hugely underrated.

 

[Pascal Quiff]

Trent has never been a guaranteed starter for England. Far from it in fact.

I'm basing it on playing at the top of their game

I think we'd ought to consider the 2024 and 1996 versions.



Can't say i remember much of 96 McManaman. Based on Peak career performances you're probably right though. IDK about TAA over Neville - Neville was the better alrounder, TAA is elite in his attacking ability.

Yeah, going on those versions I'd kick TAA for Neville, but that also opens up getting rid of Campbell and would likely mean Stones squeezing in.

McManaman was such a good player, one of those that would fit perfectly in today's game, massively underrated, though obviously I'm biased!

 

[Red Indian Chief Torn Rubber]

3-1-4-2

Seaman

G. Neville
Adams
Pearce

Ince

Saka
Gascoigne
Bellingham
Mcmanamann

Shearer
Kane

 

[youngrell]

According to the PL website.

Neville Hs 35 assists from 182 crosses. TAA has 58 assists from 1661 crosses. Neville also has 5 goals from 14 shots, TAA has 15 goals from 271 shot.

TAA is just a spam artist and he can't defend, throw enough shit at the wall and some of it will eventually stick. Neville was just a better more measured player and as you say a better all rounder, he also has the trophies to back it up.

Standard 44fooking2 and true England fashion I'm going to shove players in to suit it, at least you can have a left footer on the wing.

Seaman
Neville Campbell Adams Pearce
Bellingham Rice Ince Foden
Shearer Kane​

Think the PL stats are only from 2006/07 onwards, but it still gives a good picture of Neville’s style and output.

 

[Dan_F]

According to the PL website.

Neville Hs 35 assists from 182 crosses. TAA has 58 assists from 1661 crosses. Neville also has 5 goals from 14 shots, TAA has 15 goals from 271 shot.

TAA is just a spam artist and he can't defend, throw enough shit at the wall and some of it will eventually stick. Neville was just a better more measured player and as you say a better all rounder, he also has the trophies to back it up.

Standard 44fooking2 and true England fashion I'm going to shove players in to suit it, at least you can have a left footer on the wing.

Seaman
Neville Campbell Adams Pearce
Bellingham Rice Ince Foden
Shearer Kane​

It was always very obvious watching Liverpool under Klopp how much they rely on long balls and crossing but that is pretty funny. Imagine Dalot crossing the ball every 10 minutes.

Shouts for Maguire and Adams may have suggested the slowest back line in history.

 

[Oranges038]

I imagine those crosses and shots numbers for Neville were not captured at all for the bulk of his career. For example, those figures would suggest he averaged less than a solitary cross every two games, and took fewer than one shot per season.

I wouldn’t trust detailed stats from the late 90’s/early 00’s. I’d imagine that PL counted assists correctly as you only need to rewatch every goal scored season by season, but I don’t think that they’re going to invest their resources into rewatching every PL game just to count the number of crosses, accurate passes etc. — and they didn’t use to collect that data before the mid 00’s.

Think the PL stats are only from 2006/07 onwards, but it still gives a good picture of Neville’s style and output.

Yes, I know. I just did comparison.1 assist for every 30 odd crosses, I just got a good laugh out of that.

Gary Neville's stats more than likely aren't accurate, but was a very efficient player with the ball, he got forward plenty, he just wasn't a spam artist when it came to crossing and shooting.

 

[Mainoonited]

From the 1996 team there are a few players who have to be in:

• Seaman - at the peak of his powers, commanding and saved England against Scotland and Spain.
• Adams - likewise at his peak and led the defence well. England would benefit immensely from having him now.
• Gascoigne - made them tick. England caved in and lost control during the 15 minutes he was off the park against Switzerland.
• Shearer - at his peak and had a great tournament

And then I think both Ince and McManaman had fine tournaments and are somewhat under-rated in retrospect.

Seaman
Walker - Stones - Adams - Pearce*
Rice
Saka - Gascoigne - Bellingham
Shearer - Kane​

*Le Saux would be the left-back but for his injury.

The teams don't merge that well tbh. The weakest position is probably left-back in both given Pearce was almost 34 and Shaw / Chilwell have been off it. Ince and Rice are interchangeable but cannot have both. McManaman and Foden should really be in amongst it. Sheringham is probably a more synergistic partner for Shearer than Kane, but at this stage of their careers it should still work.

​

Thats why I chose Pearce. He could tuck into a back three and Trent could join the attack.

 

[Sandikan]

State of anyone suggesting Trent!
It's G Neville v Walker as the debate.

 

[Sandikan]

Gary Neville is hugely underrated.

Probably because a lot of posters are Johnny come lately who don't remember his peak.
And also because G Nev keeps infuriatingly talking himself down on sky as if he was just a poor man's John O Shea.

 

[Red Indian Chief Torn Rubber]

Probably because a lot of posters are Johnny come lately who don't remember his peak.
And also because G Nev keeps infuriatingly talking himself down on sky as if he was just a poor man's John O Shea.

Worse. An out of position Kevin Davies

 

[Moriarty]

I don't think I'd go with Kane and Shearer up front. I'd pair one with Teddy Sheringham.