Steven Gerrard believes his close friendship with Gareth Barry helped them combine successfully in the centre of England's midfield.
The two midfielders linked superbly against Israel on Saturday and could play together against Russia.
"I'm not sure whether everybody knows what good friends we are off the pitch," Gerrard told BBC Sport.
"The communication was there, we weren't strangers and that was the key to the partnership working."
And Gerrard, who has been passed fit to play on Wednesday after playing with a fractured toe against Israel, explained what he thought made a successful midfield partnership.
"Balance is about working hard for each other - when one midfielder attacks, one defends," he added.
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Which is exactly what Gerrard and Lumpard can't do together...
I'd build the England team around Gerrard personally and if that means Barry in the middle of the park then I'm happy with that.
The whole problem is though that England managers mix the team around way too much according to whatever pressure they face. Yes there are injuries to deal with as well but when was the last time outside of a tournament that have we had the same team more than twice in a row (or even once)?
Isaid that gerrard looked unleashed without Lampard in the team because it was fact.
Yeah Gerrard and Barry are friends wowee.
I personally think Gerrard is the better all round player than Lamps but Lampards deserves more repsect than he get
Spot on Ledge.
Gerrard would be my choice of the two. It's s*** law though that we have two world class players in one position and none in other positions.
I dunno Len - Terry is world class in my opinion and rooney isn't too shabby when he's fit but my problem with the England team is I don't think I've seen them consistently play well as a team for donkeys.
I just hope we win something in my life time just to shut the press up for once. it still probably won't be good enough though and I'd still rather charlton win the league any day of the week.
Both are great players on their day but perhaps it says it all about the England side that two players are picked for England regardless of their performances in a white shirt for a while, yet both are considered 'starters', see also Rooney...
Gerrard is a far superior player. England's problem will always be the fact we have about 11 decent players but some are in the same position so instead of actually dropping them we play them in the wrong place to accomodate them. This did not happen on Saturday, everyone played where they should & boy did it show.
Gerrard unleashed, and left to roam the midfield without Lampard is the prefered option
defo, and when he is injured there is an excellent understudy in fat fwank, he is class, but not as class as gerrard, and certainly not class enough to have him in the same side as gerrard! its one or t'other
The problem with that is that when he has an off day then the team is fucked as you rely on him too much. In the past as he's not been the main man in the England team - just one of the main men - I think that took a bit of adjusting for him. I used to despair at the times he used to be taking the ball off the centre halves and be trying to play the 60 yard glory pass EVERY BLOODY TIME! (My mate always says that the problem with English football is that we try to score almost straight away every time we get the ball, even if the keeper has got the ball - which is true!)
Gerrard seems to have matured a bit as a player over the years and so doesn't go charging around so much all of the time now, which is a good thing at international level and for him personally as I think (hope!) that maybe he plays the game with a bit more maturity which in turn might prolong his career at the highest level.
Lampard was always a "cleverer" player in the past - less all action but always seeming to be in the right place at the right time - but it's there for all to see that the two of them just don't complement each other or produce a balanced midfield.
On current form Gerrard has to get the nod over "Supagoals" every time.