The poorest England squad in recent memory?<\/p>\n
The dust has settled and we\u2019ve all had a few days to reflect on the bombshell dropped by Roy Hodgson; I\u2019m not talking about his decision to declare Rooney as England captain \u2013 although we\u2019ll get to that \u2013 but rather the announcement that Danny Rose is now seen as an international quality defender. Just let that sink in; Danny Rose, a player that most Spurs fans would be happy to see leave White Hart Lane, could soon be representing England. The national team has surely reached a new low.<\/p>\n
Perhaps I\u2019m being a bit harsh on the lad but, on the other hand, I\u2019m definitely not. There is absolutely no place in the national team for players of his calibre. Fabian Delph, who was also called up on Thursday, is another fine example of why England have no chance of winning anything in the near future. I\u2019m sure that both Rose and Delph are nice enough blokes, but do I want them to be starters if we\u2019re facing Germany, Netherlands or Argentina, for example? Not a chance.<\/p>\n
I understand that these friendlies are the perfect opportunity to blood youngsters and give them some experience of playing for the national side at a time when the result isn\u2019t all that important, but why include players that don\u2019t have a hope of featuring for England on a regular basis? Why not bring in players like Tom Huddlestone or Nathaniel Clyne, both of whom were outstanding last season and could certainly become England mainstays given the opportunity?<\/p>\n
I will say this in defence of Roy, though; well done on calling up Jack Colback. He\u2019s exactly the sort of player England need at the moment \u2013 he\u2019s far more talented than people give him credit for, will run his heart out for 90 minutes, never backs out of a tackle, and will undoubtedly prove to be an outstanding acquisition for Newcastle. Unfortunately for Hodgson, that\u2019s one positive among a sea of negatives, and that brings me on to his decision to name Rooney as captain.<\/p>\n
Why does Rooney, someone that is still struggling to adapt to being the captain of his club, deserve the position? Not only that, what is the benefit of having a striker in the role? Surely the captain needs to be someone that is able to read the game constantly, someone that already incorporates the organising of teammates while on the pitch; put simply, why has Gary Cahill been overlooked?<\/p>\n
If England go out and win Euro 2016 then I\u2019ll happily eat my words and congratulate Roy on his genius. I\u2019ll even buy him a card to say sorry. But I think I\u2019m safe in assuming that England will not win, nor come close to winning, that particular tournament, and it will just turn out to be the latest in a long line of disappointing moments for our national team.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The poorest England squad in recent memory? The dust has settled and we\u2019ve all had a few days to reflect on the bombshell dropped by Roy Hodgson; I\u2019m not talking about his decision to declare Rooney as England captain \u2013 although we\u2019ll get to that \u2013 but rather the announcement that Danny Rose is now seen as an international quality defender.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":79,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[643],"tags":[140,17,32,33,34,168,166,152,44,263,129,131,69,150,167,92,148,117,120],"class_list":["post-5058","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sport","tag-10million","tag-bet","tag-colossus-bets","tag-colossusbets","tag-colossusbets-the10millioncolossus","tag-delph","tag-england","tag-falcao","tag-features","tag-international-football","tag-liverpool","tag-man-city","tag-michael-owen","tag-monaco","tag-rose","tag-the10millioncolossus","tag-valencia","tag-worlds-biggest-bet","tag-worldsbiggestbet"],"yoast_head":"\n