Sorry Motty... you must pick Souness

i greW up listening to John Motson on TV and he is still a fascinating man to talk football with, so it grates to challenge his opinions. But nevertheless, that is what i feel compelled to do given his startling omission of the two great Scottish footballers of my lifetime. Sorry Motty, but graeme Souness and Kenny Dalglish simply have to be in your england-Scotland select team, my team or anyone’s team. We can talk about formations and tactics all day but when you are dealing with truly colossal talent, you simply find a way to shoehorn them in. Souness is the best central midfielder i have seen play live in this country, marginally ahead of the magnificent roy Keane. He was a whirlwind, a force of nature, a freak — combining deftness with power, intelligence with fearlessness. if he pulled on his boots now, at 64, i would go and watch him play. He and Paul gascoigne in tandem at the peak of their powers would have been breathtaking. As for Dalglish, the case is just as compelling. A match-winner, a visionary, a worker, an artist and a scorer of goals. He wasn’t quick but didn’t need to be as he was yards smarter than everyone else in his head. in my team — comprising players i have seen play live — Dalglish operates just off Alan Shearer with help from gascoigne and Wayne rooney. Shearer gets the no 9 shirt just ahead of gary Lineker and his bullying, traditional style should perfectly complement Dalglish’s artistry. gascoigne is asked to play slightly out of position in this line-up to find a place for Bryan robson. But gascoigne, at his peak, could have played anywhere. is robson too similar to Souness in the way that Frank Lampard was to Steven gerrard? Perhaps, but robson’s playing record with club and country dictates that he is given the chance to prove that theory wrong. At the back, i always preferred goalkeeper ray Clemence to Peter Shilton, while Alan Hansen was criminally underused by Scotland. He should have won 100 caps. He and John Terry would have been terrific foils for each other.