As he steps down from his role on Match of the Day, the pundit gave the Telegraph his Premier League XI. Let the arguments commence…
After 22 years on the sofa, Alan Hansen is almost at the end of his role on Match of the Day. But before he shuffles off to play even more golf, he took some time to tell the Telegraph his all-time Premier League XI.
We here in JOE Towers have a few players we think should be in there, like a MR Keane from Cork, but here is the Scot’s picks.
In goal he goes for Peter Schmeichal. Ireland’s only representative is Denis Irwin, who Hansen calls ‘one of the most consistent and reliable defenders I have witnessed’.
Rio Ferdinand and John Terry are his centre-half pairing while ‘the best left-back of his generation’ Ashley Cole, rounds out the back four.
His midfield seems to be made up of just two players, Steven Gerrard and Paul Scholes. Hansen acknowledges Keane was ‘very difficult to leave out’ but he had to get Scholes in.
Also making the cut were Gianfranco Zola, Cristiano Ronaldo, Thierry Henry and Alan Shearer.
You could make cases for Cantona, Tony Adams, Wayne Rooney or Frank Lampard to name but a few but this is Hansen’s XI.
