Frank Lampard makes Paul Scholes admission when naming the biggest problem with England's 'Golden Generation'

Frank Lampard made an admission about former England teammate Paul Scholes while discussing the Three Lions' failed 'Golden Generation'.

In 2004, England were regarded as one of the best international sides in the world.

Sven-Goran Eriksson had several youngsters on the cusp of superstardom coming through all at once.

Despite their talent and success at club level, those players never managed to gel and win a major international tournament.

Among the players in that group were Lampard, Scholes and Liverpool icon Steven Gerrard.

The trio famously couldn't fit together in Eriksson's 4-4-2 formation.

Manchester United legend Scholes regularly played on the left wing to accommodate Lampard and Gerrard, which resulted in his retirement from international football in 2004.

Speaking on the Stick to Football podcast, brought to you by Sky Bet, the ex-Chelsea man explained why he believes England would've benefitted with another midfielder alongside him and Gerrard.

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“There are a lot of factors to it," Lampard said. "Paul Scholes is an incredible player, and when I first got into the England squad, I probably upset the apple cart a little bit because I was another attacking midfielder, so we had three of them.

"We had a decent Euros that year (2004), but we got knocked out. Then Scholesy retired from the national football team for his own reasons, then went into that deeper role at Manchester United and became a quarterback and was unreal.

"You can look back and say ‘Why didn’t you (England) play Scholesy there’, but at that point he wasn’t playing there, he was arriving into the box."

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Scholes ended up playing until 2013, winning five more Premier League titles with United and the Champions League.

Lampard continued: "I remember him scoring those two goals against Scotland (in 1999) – he was an incredible player throughout his whole career, but the circumstances had changed.

"Wayne [Rooney] and Michael [Owen] didn’t quite play together in the two that much, then Michael started to get his injuries and Wayne came into the team. It was never as clear cut – it was a good squad, and maybe getting another body in midfield, for sure, would’ve helped."

Topics: Frank Lampard, Paul Scholes, England, Chelsea, Manchester United, Premier League

Daniel Marland

Daniel is a social editor for SPORTbible after moving from the writing team. Nearly scored past Stormzy at Old Trafford once.

@DanMarland_