Rio Ferdinand thinks Sven Goran Eriksson was “disrespectful” to his former Manchester United and England team-mate Paul Scholes when he opted to play him on the left wing.
Eriksson, who managed England for five years between 2001 and 2006, often moved Scholes out to an unfamiliar left-sided position in a 4-4-2 with Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard preferred in central midfield.
Some blamed the Swedish manager for Scholes’ premature England retirement at the age of 29 but Eriksson claimed it was nothing to do with him.
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Eriksson told the Daily Mail in 2018: “Many times it was too hot for him, he suffered from a little bit of asthma. When it got too hot, he was out. He knew he couldn’t play. He couldn’t stand the heat. That was the reason, not the position.”
But Ferdinand thinks Eriksson could’ve done more to accomodate former Man Utd midfielder Scholes in his system.
On what he thought when Eriksson played Scholes on the left, Ferdinand told his FIVE YouTube channel: “Disrespectful. Scholesy was an unbelievable player. You’ve got to change the system to suit the players then.
“We played a rigid 4-4-2 and your asking Scholesy, whose not a runner, to play left wing. It doesn’t make sense. So I didn’t like it, man, I didn’t understand it.
“But again it’s about getting all those players into the team. Someone had to be sacrificed but I’d rather Scholesy don’t play than he play him left wing.
“You could’ve played a diamond, you could’ve changed it up so much.”
When asked how he saw Gerrard’s performances for England, Ferdinand added: “I don’t think any of us played to our true potential in an England shirt. Ever.
“Especially for a consistent period, back-to-back games.”
Meanwhile, Gareth Southgate has been likening Harry Kane and Robert Lewandowski ahead of England’s match against Poland on Wednesday, despite the Bayern Munich striker being ruled out of the clash.
“I think the two are similar in that, I think Lewandowski is also very good with his ability to assist and there are not many outright number nines in the world at the moment at the really elite level,” Southgate said.
“(Romelu) Lukaku is obviously one. The two boys we’re speaking about are. I suppose (Sergio) Aguero has been.
“But you don’t get that profile of forwards so often, there’s a lot more of the interchangeable forward players that can play as an inside forward or a wide forward and be devastating in those areas, like Kylian Mbappe, who can play number nine but is normally just as effective in those wider areas.
“They’re difficult to come by and when you’ve got one like we have, it gives you a reference point, can lead the line, can link and as we said the other day, not just top goalscorer in the Premier League but top for assists as well, it’s a fantastic player to have in our group.”
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