How much longer can England ignore the North East?
Steven Taylor and Danny Simpson are two players who have recently been tipped for an England call up.
Well guess what? The latest England squad shows that there is no place for either of them in the squad for the forthcoming friendly matches against Spain and Sweden despite the fact that there are other experimental names included in the squad.
You see this is what gets on my crackers when we talk about England. In fact it's part of the reason why I struggle to get behind them. Granted I never even thought of Danny Simpson for England until he tweeted it late last night, but I had been thinking that perhaps Steven Taylor was in with a shout of being called up to the national team.
To make my point it's perhaps easiest to look at just who Postman Pat has called up to his squad. I'll purely focus on the defenders as that is where my complaint is. Pat has called up the following:
Leighton Baines (Everton), Gary Cahill (Bolton Wanderers), Ashley Cole (Chelsea), Phil Jagielka (Everton), Glen Johnson (Liverpool), Phil Jones (Manchester United), Joleon Lescott (Manchester City), John Terry (Chelsea), Kyle Walker (Tottenham Hotspur)
The case of my first defence will be Steven Taylor. The London-born 'local' lad has been exceptional this season alongside Fabricio Coloccini. Some have said that Colo is the steadying influence that Taylor has needed and whilst I tend to agree with that I also think it works the other way aswell as Colo has looked ropey at times without Taylor next to him.
Whatever. The fact of the matter is that Steven Taylor has been an ever present in the the best defence in the Premier League - the only team that has conceded less than ten goals in the entire division. Add in his stats which make him the fourth highest ranked defender, or second highest ranked English defender behind John Terry and you kind of have to wonder just what he has to do to get into the national side.
People will no doubt pipe up with something along the lines of "Taylor not being international class" or something similar. Fair enough, Point taken. What does that say about the rest of the "international class" defenders who are performing worse than him yet have waltzed straight into the side?
To me the England team should be picked on form. Granted there are exceptions, but those exceptions shouldn't become the rule. Jobs for the boys, and this is one of my problems with England. Unfortunately it won't be solved until Capello buggers off after the Euro's in the summer.
Speaking of Capello, does someone want to tell him that Newcastle is actually in England? I'll make it broader than that. Does somebody want to tell him that there is a North-East of England that isn't Essex? I only say that as, nigh on four years after he got the job, Capello is yet to visit the North-East in person and sends his little bitches instead. He even told Darren Bent to move for the sake of his international career although I'll let him off that one as I found it funny at the time. Does kind of make a point though does it not?
Back to the defenders. Of that list the only two I agree with being in ahead of Taylor are John Terry (because I have to as he was never ever going to get dropped, with or without racist remarks. Allegedly) and Joleon Lescott as he is playing for Manchester City who are top of the table so he must be doing something right. Can anyone give me a decent argument as to why Phil Jagielka or Gary Cahill are in ahead of Taylor?
The case for Danny Simpson is a little bit tougher however. I agree that Kyle Walker deserves to be there as he has been great for Tottenham, but what about Glen Johnson? That lad can't defend, but he can attack. Is that why?
Like I said, I can't really argue Simpson's case as there is only ever a couple of right-back spots up for grabs. What I will say is that I don't see many other English right-backs between those two and Simpson so you never know...
That would involve Postman Pat having a look though so I guess it's a moot point.
