Excellent article, many valid points raised - from a fairly objective stance. Even non Holt fans ( you know who you are, JWM ) must surely see some sense in this piece?
Good article, and just about spot on. I really do hope Holty does get, at least, a chance to show what he can do for England. Unfortunately, the second from last paragraph is the one that is 100%. It doesn't matter if he'd scored 30 goals this season, he will not be picked because of who he plays for. Unfortunately, football doesn't seem to exist outside the top 6 - 8 clubs anymore when it comes to the international setup.
Good article-and the misconception about "no international experience" and "too old" dealt with correctly. History tells us that Geoff Hurst (remember 66) had played only 6-7 games at international level,and was keeping out one James Greaves,from 1/4 finals onwards in 66.You don't need me to remind you what happened from then on. I would love to say that our younger strikers are better than Holt,scoring more than Holt etc etc, but they aint.FACT (colu mike influence) Sorry!!!! The bottom line on this is,If there are 5-6 better strikers than Holt who can play for England then take them to Ukraine.We are talking 1 tournament not next World Cup. On present form Holt is worth a punt.
This is why the 'international experience' argument baffles me. If the likes of Ferdinand, Terry, Luiz, Reina, De Gea, Skrtl, A Cole and others aren't world class then who is? Holt has scored against teams including all these players.
Experience? ha, counts for little! How many times were we told we would be demolished every week in the PL because we had no PL experience? (except Adam Drury of course). Same can be said of the Swansea team! Until Holty gets the opportunity no one can truly say if he is up to the standard or not.
if we want to talk about vital experience, surely holt's career experience would be brilliant to take. someone who has experienced the lows but now is hitting the highs... not many in the squad can say they have played against as many different types of defenders than him
Hate the argument of experience. The only international experience the current crop has, is that of failing in big tournaments.
I'll let him know when I get home Dave, though to be honest I'm pretty sure he'll take that as a massive compliment
I would love Holt to go and shove the so called experts faces right in it and win us a match or two. Run his heart out.... it would not only be his heart, but he would probably make his feet bleed for england and knock his head off just to try and score (please don't Grant we need you next year!). Bunch of condescending ****ers as if any of the England players of the past 10 years has set the world alight!
