England need a striker!
November 15th 2010 14:15
Link: twitter.com/mattsaltmer
Going into the friendly against France on Wednesday night, there is one hugely worrying issue which has been highlighted by the squad announcement. I am happy with Capello's selections, and am excited at the amount of young and new players, who will be getting their chance. It is not the manager's choices which are my concern, but rather the options available to him in one key position.
Despite age finally catching up with David James, and Paul Robinson's impromptu retirement, England's goalkeeping options remain strong. Still reasonably young, Joe Hart and Ben Foster are in top form, playing week in week out in the Premier League. Robert Green looks to be over his World Cup howler against USA, and Scott Carson is knocking on the squad's door.
John Terry's withdrawal through injury saves Capello a headache, as he will now play Ferdinand and Jagielka at centre-back, with Lescott, Cahill and young Chris Smalling in there for back up. With Woodgate, King, Dawson, Steven Taylor and Upson all injured, there are no worries about the centre-back position.
First choice full-backs Glen Johnson and Ashley Cole both miss out with knocks, but I feel this is a good thing. Young and in form full backs Kieran Gibbs and Micah Richards will get there chance. Given this is a friendly, I would have liked them two to start anyway. For 22-year-old Richards, he can add to his 11 caps, after his International career stalled, not earning a cap in over 3 years.
Despite not having Hargreaves and Lampard available, we still have Barry and Gerrard. Despite overlooking Beckham, Lennon, Wright-Phillips, Downing, and the fast improving Albrighton on the wings, we have Ashley Young, Walcott, Milner and Adam Johnson. Add into the mix talented young midfielders Jack Wilshere and Jordan Henderson, and the future of England's midfield looks in safe hands.
But then we get to the problem area. Following Gabriel Agbhonlahor's withdrawal through injury yesterday, there are now four strikers in the squad; Carlton Cole, Andy Carroll, Peter Crouch and Jay Bothroyd. No matter how you dress it up, that clutch of strikers are unlikely to strike fear into the hearts of the French manager, Laurent Blanc. Add in the fact that uncapped Newcastle forward Carroll is likely to have to withdraw through injury, and Capello's options are very few and far between.
Peter Crouch has a good International record, the 29-year-old has bagged 21 goals in 41 caps for England. But he is out of form, scoring his first league goal of the season at the weekend. To be fair, he is playing reasonably well, and scored a few in the Champions League. But still, is unlikely to have made the squad, had other strikers been fit.
Carlton Cole has been capped by his country seven times, and has yet to score. This season, he is struggling to break into the West Ham first team, and they are bottom of the Premier League. He looks completely out of sorts, and has yet to score a league goal this campaign. Then there is Jay Bothroyd. After an average career which has seen him play for Coventry, Wolves, Perugia and now Cardiff City, he has 16 goals in the Championship this season. He has failed to prove he can cut it at Premier League level, never mind International.
Yet these are the players we are left with, hoping they can score the goals to help us beat France. Thirteen games into the Premier League season, and should Carroll withdraw, England's strikers in the squad, boast one top flight goal between them. Still wondering why I am worried?
Of course, this is due to injuries. Manchester United's Wayne Rooney is still missing through injury, though he has been missing mentally for months. He is obviously the key man in England's future, and will hold down one forward's place for years to come. The ever young seeming Jermain Defoe is also out, and now at 28, may have missed his chance to become a top, International striker.
Darren Bent will be devastated to miss out, as he would have been the number 1 striker in the squad for the first time ever. The Sunderland hit man has one England goal to his name, and is still to prove himself at this level. And finally we are missing Fulham striker Bobby Zamora, who similarly to Bothroyd, has had an average career, but due to one good season scoring goals, is now considered a contender for an England place.
Lets compare these striking options, to fifteen years ago. Today, injuries to Bent, Defoe, Rooney and Zamora, leave us with Carlton Cole, Crouch and Bothroyd. I would say one of those are world-class, with another two genuine International strikers. In the mid 90's, Alan Shearer and Teddy Sheringham were first choice for England. The likes of Robbie Fowler, Andy Cole, Les Ferdinand, Chris Sutton and Ian Wright, could barely get a look in. It could be argued, that all seven of those strikers were at the time, world-class.
Fabio Capello would kill for a Cole, or Fowler, or Wright. They would be the main man in the England team right now, relied on to score the goals for their country. Yet only last decade, they couldn't get a kick. Bare in mind that in the late 90's, a certain Michael Owen burst onto the scene, and made competition for places even more fierce. Come World Cup 1998, Glenn Hoddle must have had the best headache in history, trying to pick just four of these fantastic goalscorers to take to France with him.
Ultimately, out of all of those strikers, one went on to comfortably score more International goals than all the others. He also went on to score more England goals than legends Geoff Hurst and Bryan Robson. That man is Michael Owen, and he is still playing for one of the best clubs in the world, Manchester United, today. To me, it is a mystery that he hasn't been picked by Capello since a friendly against France, two years ago. Owen is still stuck on 40 England goals, in 89 caps.
To be fair to Capello, Owen couldn't be picked for this squad, as he is currently injured. But despite not being at his goalscoring best the last couple of years, if fit, he has to be picked ahead of the likes of Cole, Zamora, Agbhonlahor and Bothroyd. People will argue that he doesn't always start for his club. But he is competing to get in one of the best teams in the world. I feel he deserves more respect from England fans. A big majority of fans see him as a flop, when really, looking at his International record, he should be considered a legend.
And besides, it is not like England don't pick fringe players at club level. Capello has picked Cole despite him not getting in West Ham's team. He has picked Walcott and Adam Johnson, who are struggling to get starts at club level. He has picked Lescott, who I can't remember the last time I saw him on a Premier League pitch. I'd hope that if Owen had been fit for this squad, he'd be in.
Other Premier League strikers who may have felt they had a case for inclusion, will be lead by Bolton striker Kevin Davies. The 33-year-old big man made his debut in the last match against Montenegro, and will wonder what he has done wrong to miss out this time. Given the lack of goals scored by the strikers picked, the likes of uncapped Kevin Doyle, and even six-goal Shola Ameobi, may feel they had a case for selection.
But the best thing England can do, is look to the future, and what strikers are coming through. Danny Welbeck is on a season long loan at Sunderland, and the Manchester United youngster has looked OK. Daniel Sturridge is playing at a similar level for Chelsea. As well as the ever improving Carroll at Newcastle, Nile Ranger seems a good prospect. Nathan Delfounoso at Aston Villa has been getting some game time, and looks a decent young striker. And since leaving Chelsea for Championship side Swansea City, 21-year-old Scott Sinclair has impressed. Worryingly though, all of these kids are over 18 now, by which point Owen, Rooney and Defoe had already broke onto the seniors scene. They also have to be compared to the likes of Neymar, Pato, Balotelli, Bojan and Aguero, who are of similar ages.
Looking at really young strikers, Connor Wickham and Benik Afobe are doing well at Under 19 level. But if you take the world's best strikers, they are already making headlines as teenagers. Unfortunately, none of England's teenage forwards are doing this.
So without meaning to be too negative, the strikers department really is a worry for England, now and for the future. The country has a history of creating fantastic goal scorers, and definitely could do with producing another one, as soon as possible! The England squad is full of stars, and we have an all round good team. But when our striking options are worse than Spain, France, Germany and Holland, and arguably even Sweden, Italy and Russia, winning a major tournament could prove too difficult.
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Anyways, Walcott was a better than Messi at 14-16. But strangely, he lost it. I don't think we will see the Walcott which people expected. But he will still be great for the future.