The age-old debate over who was the better of the two iconic English midfielders has been going on since forever. But for Richards, it seems pretty straight-forward.
On Match of the Day Top 10 podcast, Richards named his top 10 English players in the Premier League era. Former Liverpool skipper Steven Gerrard topped Richards’ list ahead of Alan Shearer and Wayne Rooney in second and third respectively.
During conversations with Alan Shearer and Gary Lineker, Richards made an explosive rant on why Gerrard was a far superior player to Chelsea legend Frank Lampard. The 33-year-old said, as quoted by Give Me Sport:
Gary Lineker intervened to say that if a goalscorer was needed, Lampard could be picked ahead of the Liverpool legend. However, Richards was having none of it and responded:
The former Premier League right-back then turned to Alan Shearer and continued:
Shearer interrupted to say that it was a unique ability of the Chelsea legend. But Richards was adamant that Gerrard could have done that if he had played in a similar setup to that of Lampard.
The former Manchester City defender added:
Both the Chelsea and Liverpool legends were fantastic midfielders
Both Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard were brilliant midfielders. Both were among the best players of their generation and will forever be regarded as two of the finest players England has ever produced.
Richards is right to say that Gerrard was far more of a complete midfielder in comparison to his Chelsea counterpart.
The Liverpool legend is arguably one of the most complete and all-action footballers of the modern era.
He carried his beloved club on his shoulders for a long time but did not win as much as he should have with his ability, failing to win a single Premier League trophy. He did win a Champions League title with them. Gerrard is currently managing Aston Villa in the Premier League.
However, it would be pretty unfair to say that Gerrard is miles ahead of Chelsea legend Lampard in terms of ability.
The now Everton boss used to be a master of scoring goals from midfield and making a difference on a weekly basis. He scored 177 goals in the Premier League.
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