David Mankellow

Rodwell, Carroll & Wilshere

This will be my last dedicated England post for a while but I thought I’d lend my thoughts on what I feel needs to be done in the immediate future.

I believe that there needs to be wholesale changes to football in the UK in order for there to be longevity in success but in the short term I believe that we need to move on too, starting with the friendly with Hungary on August 11th.

I don’t think that the whole team needs to be axed in the mid/long term but I do feel that we need to put some faith into some of the younger players. We don’t have a plethora of youth coming through so the ones that are coming through need experience early. I also feel that if these young players play well then this will give the experienced players a kick up the back side. In my opinion the England team should now be fair game. Not one player has a definite place and the team selection should be on footballing merit, not celebrity or what you did once upon a time.

If I were to pick the team against Hungary it would be something like:

Hart

G. Johnson     Cahill     Dawson     Gibbs

Rodwell

Milner     Wilshere

Walcott                                                     A. Johnson

Rooney

That team would entirely depend on whether these players were playing for their clubs or not. I also think these players should be playing well too, I don’t believe in giving someone a call up for the sake of it. As I said before I don’t think this is the team for the qualifying campaign but I think that this team (or a team similar) should be given the chance to go at Hungary with no fear. I think without the “Senior” players around it may relieve some of the pressure and will enable players to just go and do what they are good at. I would fully expect the likes of Terry, Lampard, Gerrard, Ashley Cole, Joe Cole, Rio Ferdinand, Gareth Barry etc etc to all come back into contention for starting places but only on merit. They need to be playing well for their clubs and also their country. There is no point in just dumping a player into the system just because they’re doing well in their clubs. The players need to suit the way the England manager wants the team to play.

There are a number of players that face crucial seasons, both young and old. Let’s start with the existing crop of England players:

Rio Ferdinand: The England captain needs to have a relatively injury free season and play well in my opinion. His place will be under threat if not as you cannot build a team based on an injury prone captain. At his best he is one of the best centre halves in the world but we need him on the pitch.

Joe Cole: Whoever he signs for he’ll only go there if he is playing week-in-week-out. This can only be a good thing for England. Additionally, if he can play in behind the striker in a midfield 3 this will be a real bonus for Capello as it will give him great options. If Joe makes the wrong move however, his England career will be over.

Frank Lampard: His Chelsea form has never been better. He is undoubtedly one of the best goalscoring midfielders in the world, doing it at all levels of club football but he’s never properly fitted into an England set up. If he has one bad season it could be a good time for Capello to remove him from the side and get some of the Lampard-hating fans on his side. The facts are, while he’s playing so well for his club he can’t not be in the squad at least.

Steven Gerrard: New manager, potentially a new system, potentially a new club. This season will be huge for Gerrard. In my opinion he was the best of a bad bunch for England and I believe he should always be in a central role. If he makes a wrong move or things do not go well at Liverpool then it is possible he could be removed from the England side. I don’t believe this will happen though. I think he’ll be the England captain for Euro 2012.

Now for the young players:

Joe Hart: If he is back at Man City next season he’ll not be in the England set-up. Fact. He needs to be playing regularly and he wont as Given is a superb, world class ‘keeper. With Carson back in the Premiership, Green looking to make amends, Robinson looking assured, Capello has options. Hart needs to move away, on loan or otherwise in order to be Englands number one. He could be the number one for a long time if he plays regularly.

James Milner: Will he stay or will he go? Man City normally get their man but if they do will he play enough? How will he cope with a huge price tag? Milner has progressed a lot over the last year and this is down to Villa and Martin O’Neill. He will progress into a good central midfielder and he needs to be playing the amount of games he did at Villa. I think he needs to stay for one more season before making a big move.

Jack Wilshere: A rare breed. a technically gifted, young English midfielder. He has got the Arsenal/Wenger philosophy and England need some of that. If he plays a full season he will force himself into the England set-up, i’ve got no doubt about it. But if he stays at Arsenal and plays in the League Cup and the reserves that’ll be a crucial season lost. I think he needs to seek assurances from Wenger and then make a decision. I think a Premiership loan deal will be the best idea for him.

Theo Walcott: There has been a hell of a lot of expectation on this mans shoulders over the last two years and he hasn’t delivered. If he is to be a top player then this is the season to show it. We know he can produce but he doesn’t do it nearly enough. If he doesn’t have a consistent season soon then there will be serious concerns over his ability.

Adam Johnson: The start of his Man City career was fantastic and he was very unlucky not to be in the England side for the World Cup. He is a natuarlly gifted player and a left sided player at that! If he plays regularly this season then he’ll be an England fixture for sure.