Michael Owen's England XI: Do Alan Shearer & David Beckham make the cut

[THē-GHōST]

 

I would definitely go for a 3-5-2 because for a long time now England players have suited that formation. Look at Euro 96 under Terry Venables and in France at the 1998 World Cup, when we were a brilliant team and probably should've gone further, with Glenn Hoddle as manager. Then we went through a bit of a disastrous period and it coincided with 4-4-2 and variations of it. I remember playing for the England team and we had Paul Scholes as a left midfielder and things like that. It was strikingly obvious that 3-5-2 is the formation that we should have adopted and who knows how far we would have gone in certain eras At the last World Cup, Gareth Southgate went back to 3-5-2, so we are suited to it. Glenn Hoddle would be the manager, no question, because he plays 3-5-2 as well.

This is probably an area where we haven't been at our strongest for some years. I would say David Seaman is the best goalkeeper over the past couple of decades. He was a very safe pair of hands. At Euro 96 he excelled. He was a top-class goalkeeper.On pure ability, someone like David James has got more - but Seaman's consistency is what made him a very good goalkeeper. I was only with him for a small period but he was a calming influence.