Carragher: Gerrard and Lampard better than Scholes - And guess who is not happy!

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Liverpool legend Jamie Carragher says he feels the Liverpool and Chelsea midfielders were better than the Manchester United man.

Paul Scholes confirmed his retirement this summer, for the second time - ending an illustrious career which saw him win 11 Premier League titles with Manchester United.


The midfielder's footballing memory lives on, with former teammate Gary Neville enthusing about his talent on Sky, in defence of Jamie Carragher's assertion he was only the third best of his generation.

The two pundits were asked via a viewer's question to rank the three of Paul Scholes, Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard in order - in terms of their assessment of their talent and careers.
While Neville did not get around to answering the question directly, Carragher did not shy away from responding:

"They are three world class players. Top for me is Stevie, the reason he is top is in terms of his big game influence, in Istanbul and in Cardiff.

"Lampard the same, his goals in the FA Cup final, to win the league at Bolton. He's slightly ahead of Scholes for me."

This was a red rag to a bull for Gary Neville, who expressed his disbelief that his television colleague ranked Scholes behind the Liverpool and Chelsea duo.
"Paul Scholes is the best player I've ever played with. He's a unique talent.

"I'll take the Scholes of 2004-2010/11 as the very best. Comparable to the Xavi's, the Pirlo's in his ability to control the tempo of a whole match. It is not just about scoring the goals. People used to ask why Manchester United scored so many late goals, it was because they used to knacker teams for 85 minutes by keeping possession and wore them out.

"To be fair Steven Gerrard added this to his game over the past two years, but you can't compare. It's like comparing Messi and Ronaldo."
In an entertaining debate, Carragher did not let Neville get off with writing off his opinion, asking what he believed key questions over Scholes.

He asked why Sven Goran Eriksson decided to move Scholes out to the right for England to accommodate Gerrard and Lampard, to which Neville replied it was the 'easy option because Scholes could play there', adding it was questionable whether it worked.

Carragher also asked why apparently if Scholes was so key, Sir Alex Ferguson felt the need to go any buy Juan Sebastian Veron, a question Neville laughed off.

Carragher however went onto state, "The lads used to ask who was the best player at England training. Paul Scholes by a mile."
The debate will of course rumble on, with presenter Ed Chamberlain suggesting it would likely continue off-air.

It should be no real surprise that Neville or Carragher plumped for their former clubmates as the best, but with Carragher choosing Lampard as better than Scholes - that was a point of view the Manchester United veteran appeared to take as a personal insult.