He didn't show his club form often enough for his country- BUT HE EARNED 114 CAPS.
Id say winning 114 caps represents being a great servant wouldn't you?
He didn't CHOOSE to not carry his club form onto his international career you know.
And even if he wasn't the same player for england as he has been for Liverpool, he was still one of englands best players over almost 15 years!!!
Thats how it works!
And how did he "earn" those caps? By being a great servant to his CLUB (and the cynic in me says the press adulation of him probably helped). There was always that (mostly unfulfilled) hope that he'd transfer his club form to the international stage, but despite chance after chance after chance (114 chances!!), he very, very rarely did anything of the sort.
Didn't choose not to carry his club form on to his international career? Up to a point. I'm not suggesting that he played for England hoping we'd lose. I'm not saying that he was deliberately shit - but I get the feeling that whilst he was a team player and a great captain when there was a Liver bird on his shirt, he appeared to be playing for himself when there were 3 lions.
He kept being picked for England despite how crap he was in an England shirt most of the time.
One of England's best players over almost 15 years? Really? Let's take a look at his record in international tournaments.
W/C 2002 - Injured (but played well in qualifying).
Euro 2004 - Woeful
W/C 2006 - Better than in 2004, but still poor.
Euro 2008 - Did not qualify. Woeful in qualifying.
W/C 2010 - Awful.
Euro 2012 - Played well. Arguably England's best player.
W/C 2014 - Average. Age had caught up with him but he still did OK. Not great, but certainly OK.
One of England's best players for the last 15 years? England have been consistently poor for the last 10, and with the exception of 1 tournament I still don't think he's been one of the best of a bad bunch.