The lads got a point: Adam Johnson believes Roy Hodgson's England squad is far from a meritocracy. The Sunderland winger has become convinced that players belonging to an eight-strong club cartel do not even need to be regularly starting Premier League games in order to feature prominently in Hodgson's blueprint. It would be easy to dismiss Johnson's gripe as the bitter reflections of a left-footer spurned but they ring true, raising the question as to whether he and Hull City's Tom Huddlestone â who arguably has a much stronger case for inclusion in England's Brazil-bound party â are being overlooked unfairly. The Sunderland winger had been widely expected to be included in Hodgson's 30-man squad selected for the friendly victory against Denmark earlier this month. After winning January's player of the month award, scoring seven goals in nine games and helping revive Sunderland's hopes of avoiding relegation, Johnson was renascent and Gus Poyet, his club manager, made it clear he deserved to add to his 12 senior caps. Yet his name, like Huddlestone's, was nowhere to be seen on the eventual squad list. Indeed the only outfield players not from Arsenal, Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur, Manchester United, Manchester City, Liverpool, Everton or Southampton were Toronto's Jermain Defoe and Cardiff City's Steven Caulker, both of whom formerly played for Tottenham. Meanwhile, the group also included the Spurs winger Andros Townsend, who last started a Premier League game on 10 November. "I think a lot of people were surprised," says Johnson. "A lot of people saw me as almost a certainty but if you look at the last squad it was almost all top eight bar Caulker, who wasn't meant to be in it but for (Phil) Jagielka's injury. I think that says a lot about the selection. I don't think it really matters how well you're playing, it's who you play for. If you look at the last 10 squads it's a fact, isn't it?" The sense that England coaches tend to select from a small pool and rarely make left-field choices first struck Johnson when he was on Manchester City's books. "All my caps came when I was at City," he says. "Sometimes I got picked when I wasn't playing. Now I'm playing more and I can't get a cap. It's just a fact. It's not me being sour. Some of the players, if they weren't playing for the big clubs, wouldn't be anywhere near it [the squad]. "I came to Sunderland to play more, rather than thinking about England. But some games I wasn't even on the bench at City but I was still in the England squad. I felt Denmark was probably the closest I'd been under Roy Hodgson. But in his mind I don't think he really wanted any big decisions to make so he stuck with the players who had been around since the start of the campaign. That's life, that's the way it goes. It will be interesting to see how it goes in the World Cup and what happens after." Johnson is merely echoing the views of Maxine Huddlestone who, much to her son's embarrassment, tweeted her thoughts on Tom's exclusion from Hodgson's party to face Denmark. "England squad â same old, same old, pick players who don't get a start for their clubs," she commented. Considering that Huddlestone has been Hull's outstanding individual since joining from Spurs last summer, regularly controlling games from central midfield â although he was poor against Manchester City last weekend â she had a point. Indeed it rather begs the questions as to whether Tom Cleverley would currently be in the national coach's plans were he not a Manchester United player and if Townsend might have enjoyed such favourable treatment had he been on Stoke's books. Many Hull fans are convinced that their radically improved centre-half Curtis Davies could well be a shoo-in were he employed in London, Manchester, Merseyside or, possibly, Southampton. "The England door's open but the chain's on," is how Davies adroitly sums up the situation. Steve Bruce, the Hull manager, has publicly expressed double puzzlement that Caulker was selected ahead of his centre-half and Huddlestone not considered earlier this month. "I'm not holding my breath," says Huddlestone when asked if he still harbours hopes of boarding England's flight to Rio. "I wasn't playing regularly at Spurs but I got in the England squad for the Sweden game back in November 2012 so that was a bit strange. It's dispiriting now. It's nice when people say I should be in the squad but it can also be frustrating." Poyet knows Huddlestone from his Tottenham days and feels he would be ideally suited to add to his four senior caps amid the heat and humidity of South America this summer. "Tom's one of the few English players, if not the only one, who can hit a ball 70 yards without moving 10cm," says the Sunderland manager. "Left foot, right foot, ping it, outside of the foot, he can do it. Tom's got an unbelievable ability to hit the ball from side to side." Peter Taylor, the Gillingham manager, who coached Huddlestone at England Under-21 level believes Hull have a latter day Glenn Hoddle on their hands. "I hope Tom's got a chance of going to the world cup," says Hoddle's former Spurs team-mate. "When you see Tom pass the ball you see why he'd be an asset in Brazil. Out there you'd want your team to keep the ball a little more and he'd be ideal. He has the same passing outstanding passing range off both feet as Glenn." But how often does Hodgson watch Hull live? England's coach has only been to Sunderland once since succeeding Fabio Capello and Davies suspects he is equally unfamiliar with the KC Stadium. "With all due respect to ourselves I'm not sure the England manager will watch many Hull games," says the defender. "It's a shame for me and Tom; there's disappointment for both of us. It's not arrogance thinking we deserve to be there. It's just that we want to reach the pinnacle, to play for our country." http://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2014/mar/19/roy-hodgson-england-squad-meritocracy
Sad thing is, he's right. Hodgson is a disgrace. As is most of the England setup. The only thing that is annoying me is everyone wanting Thudd in the squad but never mentioning Davies...
I spoke with Roy personally last summer at the Copacabana Palace Hotel on the eve of the Brazil and England fixture and counselled him to get hissen up to City this season to watch our larkers.
He is - but he's not being very smart saying it in public. He was probably pretty close to Hodgson's squad despite not making it last time, but this is how you make sure you won't be in the next one! Agreed. More deserving than Thudd if you ask me.
It is very true just selecting players from the top teams. There are much better players available who are at other teams so they get first team football, the sooner the Woy realises this the better.
Depressing reading that. At times I want to like Woy but when he goes on about drawing away at pretty much anywhere being a good result because it's 'a hard place to go to' and keeps making these selections it does get frustrating. I normally argue against the point about big club players but Johnson makes some good points about being picked when he wasn't playing at Man Hunter and not getting picked now. I do think there are better wingers than him but it's still a good point. It's the defenders that really piss me off. Davies literally can't get in the squad no matter what he does, whereas the likes of Smalling and the other usual suspects get in whether they play or not and even if they play poorly.
I really don't know what Roy Hodgson sees in Cleverley or Smalling, England will never win anything if this is his attitude to picking players.
I think Strachan said something, in regards to Darren Fletcher, along the lines of, if you play for Man United then you've automatically got a place in the squad. Obviouslly refering to the Scotland team but it seems like this is the same ideal that Hodgson is using
england managers and the fa have been far too conservative for decades. ramsey made stupid decisions at times. clough should have managed england.
O/T Fletcher is out of contract in 2015, he'd be high on my list of combative high energy CM's to play alongside Thudd. I'm sure other teams might think so too though, that's if he's not in Moysies plans.
I might get shot down for this but I've got my fingers crossed that we do absolutely ****e in Brazil and don't get out of the group. We aren't going to win it so I'd rather we bomb completely and then have a much needed managerial and personnel overhaul.
Roy Hodgson was possibly the worst appointment for England manager, his tactics, style of play, predictable picking of players make it unbearable watching England play. We'll be humiliated in Brazil by our outdated manager and outdated tactics and style of play.
Managerial failings besides, Huddlestone and Johnson failed to produce when it mattered and Hudds recent form is not outstanding or even close. On the other hand Davies has every right to be pissed off. Edit: Alf Ramsey won the world cup with a team forced on him by injuries - maybe we can get lucky twice.
Adam Johnson has it spot on. Hodgson is too predictable, unimaginative, and set in his ways to inject any creativity into his tactics and team selection. And I agree we'll be shown up in Brazil. In addition to Man U. and the top six clubs he seems infatuated with Southampton. Every time I watch them on TV Hodgson is in the stands. I agree that Lailana and Shaw are brilliant young players, that Rodriguez has benefited from playing with them, and that Lambert is better than the one-dimensional and injury prone Carroll, but how many times does he need to watch them and totally ignore clubs in the lower half like Hull City. Davies should be an absolute shoe-in. The one good thing about failure in Brazil is that Roy will be fired if he doesn't quit. Then maybe Curtis will get his cap. As for Thudd, if he isn't ten times the player Cleverley is, and the best long-ball passer in England, I'll eat my hat. Smalling and that dolt shouldn't be anywhere near the squad.
I wouldn't take Huddlestone in my 23, on current form, although I do feel he should've been tried in a friendly. Davies should be in there, no doubt. Third best English centre-half this season, and one of those ahead of him is retired from international football.
As always, one of the biggest things holding the England team back this summer will be the pressure from the English public who seem to be excited to see them fail more than ever this time around.
