Jonjo Shelvey and Nathan Dyer both in the thoughts of the England manager.
Another TSW debut today! Josh Kilmister takes a look at the situation surrounding England's hopefuls
So it seems that Roy has been watching the Premier League after all! Despite Garry Monk's claims that the England boss has never visited the Liberty Stadium, it appears that our unbeaten start hasn’t gone unnoticed by Hodgson and his staff.
Hodgson claims that he knows Nathan Dyer well, but admits that “he faces a lot of competition”. That’s understandable. Nath is a fantastic player, and has been one of our most consistent players since the beginning of our Premier League journey, but with the likes of Raheem Sterling, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Andros Townsend (erm...) and Theo Walcott owning the right side of midfield; it’s hard to see where our man would fit in. [In my opinion he should be ahead of Andros Townsend all day! - Ed].
Of course, on his day, Dyer can run rings around any unfortunate left-back he comes up against, and that’s been picked up on not only by the England setup, but also ex-pro Stan Collymore. The former Liverpool man claimed seemed genuinely upset that Dyer hadn’t been giving a chance with the national team.
Hodgson claims that he knows Nathan Dyer well, but admits that “he faces a lot of competition”. That’s understandable. Nath is a fantastic player, and has been one of our most consistent players since the beginning of our Premier League journey, but with the likes of Raheem Sterling, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Andros Townsend (erm...) and Theo Walcott owning the right side of midfield; it’s hard to see where our man would fit in. [In my opinion he should be ahead of Andros Townsend all day! - Ed].
Of course, on his day, Dyer can run rings around any unfortunate left-back he comes up against, and that’s been picked up on not only by the England setup, but also ex-pro Stan Collymore. The former Liverpool man claimed seemed genuinely upset that Dyer hadn’t been giving a chance with the national team.
“It’s embarrassing that Dyer hasn’t had a proper opportunity with England.”
Too right it is! Now onto Jonjo, and Hodgson spoke a lot more of our former Liverpool man than any of our other players, claiming that he is always in the thoughts of the England staff.
“A player like Jonjo is always going to be in our thoughts... I do know him better than I know the two players I have selected this time.
“I’ve worked with Jonjo Shelvey and know him quite well in fact, I made him captain of the Under-21 team in the one game I had”
So why hasn’t he had a call up then!? Come on Roy! I’m sure we’ve all seen Jonjo’s stats for last season, and I’m sure we’ve all seen that statistically, he had a better season than ‘the next big thing’ Ross Barkley. So if statistics have anything to say on the matter, why isn’t he in an England team with Jack Colback and Fabian Delph in? Would he have a better chance of making the cut if he was still earning his trade at Liverpool? [Statistics would seem to indicate that indeed, Jonjo should be in the England squad (link) - Ed].
Unfortunately, I’d imagine so. Would he be getting anywhere near the amount of first team football as he does with us? No, far from it. It seems no matter what Jonjo does to get into England squad, he just can’t win!
As for Routledge, his name went unmentioned. After his spectacular volley against West Brom his name was chucked around Twitter a little bit, but not much else. It’s a shame because you will struggle to find a harder-working, technically sound and overall consistent winger in the English game. I have no doubt that, despite being considerably older than other players in his position, he’d do a fantastic job in the white of England, as he does in the white of Swansea.
Thanks to Josh for this great first piece for TSW! Give him a follow on Twitter @JoshKilmister!
Check out a statistical take on why we certain Swansea players should already have been called up here: http://www.theswanseaway.co.uk/2014/09/the-stats-that-show-swans-should-be.html