| Re: England Squad Announced
The U-21's have an important qualifier on Tuesday night and he explained this to be the reason Hart wasn't considered for a friendly match. Agbonlahor on the other hand, was in the senior squad because the perception is that we have a handful of other U'21 strikers to pick from, but very few U'21 qualified goalkeepers.
Personally, I thought it would have been a good and opportune time to have set a marker for picking players based on their form (or lack thereof) and sending out a message that "if you're not in your team regularly and you're not in form then you won't get picked".....I like the fact that would tell players that their international places are not just their whenever and however they are playing.
So, in that regard, I would have left out Ashley Cole (who hasn't started any of Chelsea's last 3 matches....only coming on with 1 minute left in the middle of the 3.....and has frankly dropped his standards considerably this season as a whole anyway). This is all leaving aside any "personal problems" he may have at the moment.
I would also have left out Michael Owen for this match. He's come back and (even though 2 of them were against Arsenal) his performances in the last 3 matches in his latest comeback have shown he is very short of form, pace and direction at the moment.
As for Rio (as mentioned above) I've never seen him in better or more consistent form than he has been this season, so yes, he would very much be in my team let alone my squad.
In each of the above case's I would by no means be severing their international careers, both men hopefully have a long future in international football. However, this would have a been a good opportunity to lay down a marker for where you have to be in regard to fitness and what standard you have to be playing at to be an England international.
The opportunity has been lost. |