SM
Thursday, November 7
Upcoming predictions and previews

England

Top 20 England players of all time - #8

:Headline: Top 20 England players of all time - #8: ID:300267: from db_amp
Sports Mole's countdown of the top 20 England players of all time continues with number eight - Jimmy Greaves.

Jimmy Greaves (57 caps, 44 goals)

The inescapable truth of Jimmy Greaves's England career is that his crowning glory was snatched away from him by injury during the 1966 World Cup.

Whether or not England would have gone all the way to lift the Jules Rimet trophy on home soil with Greaves leading the line ahead of Geoff Hurst, who scored the only goal of the game in the quarter-final and a hat-trick in the final, is something we will never know, but Greaves was undoubtedly his country's pre-eminent striker at the time.

A nasty cut to his leg in the group stages kept Greaves out of the quarters and semi-finals and, despite being fit to play in the final against West Germany, manager Alf Ramsey opted to keep faith with Hurst - a decision which was more than vindicated.

However, it would be a disservice to define Greaves's career by what could have been as the striker was one of the greatest goalscorers world football has ever seen.

The clinical front man scored three hat-tricks in his first two years as a full England international and went on to score six throughout his Three Lions career - a record for the team.

Greaves played just three more times for England following his 1966 disappointment, but he retired as his country's all-time leading goalscorer and his tally of 44 in just 57 games is still enough to put him fourth on the list.

At club level, Greaves established himself with 132 goals in 169 appearances for Chelsea before joining Bill Nicholson's Tottenham Hotspur, where he won two FA Cup crowns and the Cup Winners' Cup - in addition to the Serie A title during a brief spell with AC Milan.

A hat-trick on his Tottenham debut gave a sign of things to come during the heyday of his career and he went on to score 422 goals in 602 appearances - including a record 357 goals in England's top flight.

amp_article__300267 : Database Data restored...  : 
last updated article - 2017-06-13 14:08:02:
html db last update - 2017-06-13 14:08:02 :

ex - 7200 : read : read cache amp html
Share this article now:
Recommended Next on SM
Premier League Table
TeamPWDLFAGDPTS
1Liverpool108111961325
2Manchester CityMan City1072121111023
3Nottingham ForestNott'm Forest10541147719
4Chelsea105322012818
5Arsenal105321711618
6Aston Villa105321715218
7Tottenham HotspurSpurs1051422111116
8Brighton & Hove AlbionBrighton104421714316
9Fulham104331413115
10Bournemouth104331312115
11Newcastle UnitedNewcastle104331010015
12Brentford104151920-113
13Manchester UnitedMan Utd10334912-312
14West Ham UnitedWest Ham103251319-611
15Leicester CityLeicester102441418-410
16Everton102351017-79
17Crystal Palace10145813-57
18Ipswich TownIpswich100551021-115
19Southampton10118719-124
20Wolverhampton WanderersWolves100371427-133
Scroll for more - Tap for full version


Sports Mole provides in-depth previews and predictions for every match from the biggest leagues and competitions in world football.
AL
Sign up for our FREE daily preview newsletter direct to your inbox!

Loading ...

Failed to load data.



. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .