“I’m sick to death of hearing about this, to be honest. It doesn’t really matter.”
That’s what Paul Scholes thinks of constantly being compared to Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard.
But despite the three English midfielders retiring years ago, fans just can’t stop doing exactly that.
So, let’s join in - who is the best of the three?
Manchester United fans will say Paul Scholes, Liverpool fans will say Steven Gerrard and Chelsea fans will say Frank Lampard.
But what do the stats say?
Well, we looked to FIFA 20’s stats to try and settle the debate once and for all.
On Futhead, we used the Icon card with Scholes having a base rating of 92, Gerrard 93 and Lampard 92. And we looked at each of FIFA’s 29 stats to determine the winner.
Each player is awarded one point if they reign supreme in a particular stat, while they will get 0.5 points if they tie with another.
So, let’s take a look:
Acceleration: Paul Scholes (77) vs Steven Gerrard (84) vs Frank Lampard (82) = GERRARD
Sprint speed: Paul Scholes (73) vs Steven Gerrard (81) vs Frank Lampard (78) = GERRARD
Positioning: Paul Scholes (93) vs Steven Gerrard (92) vs Frank Lampard (89) = SCHOLES
Finishing: Paul Scholes (85) vs Steven Gerrard (89) vs Frank Lampard (93) = LAMPARD
Shot power: Paul Scholes (95) vs Steven Gerrard (95) vs Frank Lampard (93) = SCHOLES AND GERRARD TIED
Long shots: Paul Scholes (98) vs Steven Gerrard (97) vs Frank Lampard (96) = SCHOLES
Volleys: Paul Scholes (89) vs Steven Gerrard (86) vs Frank Lampard (87) = SCHOLES
Penalties: Paul Scholes (77) vs Steven Gerrard (86) vs Frank Lampard (90) = LAMPARD
Vision: Paul Scholes (96) vs Steven Gerrard (89) vs Frank Lampard (85) = SCHOLES
Crossing: Paul Scholes (91) vs Steven Gerrard (90) vs Frank Lampard (84) = SCHOLES
Free-kick accuracy: Paul Scholes (76) vs Steven Gerrard (83) vs Frank Lampard (86) = LAMPARD
Short passing: Paul Scholes (95) vs Steven Gerrard (94) vs Frank Lampard (95) = SCHOLES AND LAMPARD TIED
Long passing: Paul Scholes (96) vs Steven Gerrard (96) vs Frank Lampard (94) = SCHOLES AND GERRARD TIED
Curve: Paul Scholes (76) vs Steven Gerrard (83) vs Frank Lampard (86) = GERRARD AND LAMPARD TIED
Agility: Paul Scholes (70) vs Steven Gerrard (73) vs Frank Lampard (66) = GERRARD
Balance: Paul Scholes (91) vs Steven Gerrard (71) vs Frank Lampard (64) = SCHOLES
Reactions: Paul Scholes (93) vs Steven Gerrard (91) vs Frank Lampard (90) = SCHOLES
Ball control: Paul Scholes (90) vs Steven Gerrard (96) vs Frank Lampard (93) = GERRARD
Dribbling: Paul Scholes (78) vs Steven Gerrard (91) vs Frank Lampard (88) = GERRARD
Composure: Paul Scholes (93) vs Steven Gerrard (88) vs Frank Lampard (93) = SCHOLES AND LAMPARD TIED
Interceptions: Paul Scholes (83) vs Steven Gerrard (77) vs Frank Lampard (79) = SCHOLES
Heading accuracy: Paul Scholes (84) vs Steven Gerrard (88) vs Frank Lampard (72) = GERRARD
Defence awareness: Paul Scholes (58) vs Steven Gerrard (77) vs Frank Lampard (73) = GERRARD
Sliding tackle: Paul Scholes (43) vs Steven Gerrard (74) vs Frank Lampard (63) = GERRARD
Standing tackle: Paul Scholes (62) vs Steven Gerrard (79) vs Frank Lampard (77) = GERRARD
Jumping: Paul Scholes (86) vs Steven Gerrard (87) vs Frak Lampard (79) = GERRARD
Stamina: Paul Scholes (96) vs Steven Gerrard (93) vs Frank Lampard (96) = SCHOLES AND LAMPARD TIED
Strength: Paul Scholes (75) vs Steven Gerrard (83) vs Frank Lampard = LAMPARD
Aggression: Paul Scholes (89) vs Steven Gerrard (87) vs Frank Lampard (76) = SCHOLES
Final results:
Scholes - 11.5
Gerrard - 11.5
Lampard - 6
So, the Scholes vs Gerrard vs Lampard still isn’t quite settled. Although we can safely say that it’s more of a Scholes vs Gerrard debate now, with Lampard only winning six of FIFA’s 29 in-game stats.
But there wasn’t any separating Scholes and Gerrard. The United midfielder came out on top on a lot of attacking-based stats with his long shots, vision and volleying better than his rivals. Whereas Gerrard won on the more physical and defensive stats like sprint speed, agility and both tackling attributes.
FIFA aren’t able to settle it so maybe we should just appreciate the three English players for what they were - world-class players.