I know we keep on sayig it but what exactly do Holt/Ruddy have to do even to be given a once over at International level? How many tournaments can England go to with players full of potential but not the finished article on top form? whatever Ruddy says publicly he can't be pleased to be behind a Champoinship keeper and one playing for a mid-table Turkish side. How Frasier Campbell/Bent get in ahead of Holt/Graham is, I imagine beyond most people. Still at least from a selfish point of view if our players are not called up they won't get injured or tired on International duty and will help us next season.
1) Good point @ Naughton, very true, still I reckon Norwich would be his destination of choice, he knows he will play week in week out, as a first choice RB, not guaranteed at Spurs or another top side, where he would be a bench-warmer. 2) I'd rather take Walcott than Downing, one is world class on his day, the other is distinctly average and hardly sets the world on fire. I would pair Walcott and Oxlade-Chamberlain on either wing if it was my choice. 3) Young. Just don't like him
One of the main problems IMO is that nobody any longer attaches importance to international matches which aren't competition qualifiers. In the old days, there wasn't such a thing as a "friendly" international. It was England v Holland, or England v Germany, etc. and everybody, FA, clubs, players, fans, all took it seriously, a matter of national pride (much like the Celtic nations still regard any game against England). The idea of using an international to experiment would have caused outrage; you picked the absolute strongest team you could, current form counted, and if the form player happened to be over 30 nobody would have considered that a reason not to select him. We need to get back to taking the present seriously, not always looking at tomorrow's potential "jam"; do that and the future will take care of itself.
