Who can be Gerrard's perfect partner?

Who can be Gerrard’s perfect partner?

Steve McClaren faces a selection dilemma ahead of England’s must-win game against Estonia at Wembley on Saturday. With John Terry ruled out by injury, Steven Gerrard will wear the captain’s arm band, thus taking one of the central midfield births, leaving Frank Lampard and Gareth Barry to fight it out for the right to partner Gerrard in midfield.

Barry, given his chance against Israel and Russia, as a result of injuries to Lampard, Owen Hargreaves and Michael Carrick, is a naturally left sided player, but excelled in the middle of the park alongside Gerrard. The stand in skipper said that “Gareth was probably man of the match in the last two games and might feel hard done by if he was dropped”. And Barry might well feel aggrieved if McClaren reverts to the Lampard-Gerrard partnership which has come in for criticism in recent times. Lampard, a prolific goalscorer for Chelsea both domestically and in Europe has sometimes failed to reproduce his club-form on the international stage, although the same criticism can be levied at Gerrard. Gerrard was quick to quash suggestions that he could not play in partnership with Lampard, saying “I played well with Gareth in the last games, but I’ve played well alongside Frank too.

England coach Steve McClaren is well aware of the competition for midfield places, saying “the Barry and Lampard decision is a massive one, but it is a good position to be in”. Whatever combination McClaren favours, Estonia will not provide the sternest of tests, and will probably not provide a thorough examination of England’s midfield.

It is without doubt that Barry performed admirably in the recent Internationals, but it is difficult to look past the experience of Lampard, who contributed over 20 goals for Chelsea from midfield last year. Indeed it is one of the biggest disappointments in English football that Lampard and Gerrard, so dominant in the Premiership, have not clicked as a partnership at International level. Moreover the competition for midfield places will heat up further still when Owen Hargreaves returns to full fitness; the Manchester United man will finally have a chance to show the English crowds what he is capable of on a weekly basis in the Premiership.

McClaren is the man with decisions to make, but for all his selection headaches, McClaren and England fans alike will be excited by the opportunity to reunite Michael Owen and Wayne Rooney in partnership, and given the right service it could be the strikers, rather than the midfield who are taking the headlines come Sunday morning.