Well I don't think the points I made about JWP apply to Henderson. He's not in there as a set piece taker. He's in there as a leader, someone who knows how to win knockout games and trophies. He's also always been underrated as a footballer. Now playing in a ****e league obviously and I have no idea how he's getting on over there but I'm sure if his performance levels were dropping he'd be out of the squad. It's not even like he's just making up the numbers in the squad, he's still a fairly regular England starter.
It just completely spits in players faces who didn’t get a look in because they played abroad. There’s plenty of players in there that know how to win trophies. Henderson is declining and it just doesn’t set a good precedent for players in form in good leagues..,
He started the recent Ukraine game, but prior to that I don’t think he’s started a competitive game for a couple of years.
This is what irritates me about Southgate. I actually agree that Ward-Prowse doesn’t deserve to be in the England squad as he’s just not at that level. But to continue picking Henderson and Phillips is a crime against football. Ward-Prowse isn’t good enough but neither are those two. Joe Willock and Sean Longstaff are probably more deserving of a place over Henderson and Phillips.
I don’t think it’s fair to say Phillips isn’t enough. He’s not getting into the best team in the world, but he’s never been poor for England. It’s a different debate whether he should be included on his form (although I’m not as bothered about that as most) but there’s a reason Man City bought him.
Ward Prowse is at an age where he can easily still keep improving. Next to Rice and Bellingham he’s more then good enough
Man City have named a 20 man squad, 17 of which are allowed to be non-home grown. They have 6 who are home-grown.
He started knockout games at the World Cup and he was starting again in the June internationals. So he's basically been a regular starter for the last year or so.
Other than the recent Ukraine game, the last competitive game he started was Albania in the World Cup, which as I said is over two years ago.
Are we still talking about Henderson? I don't recall a game against Albania and the World Cup wasn't over two years ago. He started against Ukraine as you say, and also the previous three qualifiers in June and March and the last three games of the World Cup which was less than a year ago. The only competitive games he's not started since then were the two qualifiers against Italy.
I know you're posting with your usual level of seriousness, but I do think that a lot of clubs treat international breaks as an opportunity for their players to rest and encourage them to withdraw from international duty whenever possible. The big clubs in particular seem to do this. They probably have an easier time convincing the player when it's dead rubber games like the ones England have this week.
Yes, agreed, but Bellingham was out injured for his club last week. Has gone on for decades. Revie was notorious for pulling players out of internationals because of injuries that healed up 3 days later for the next Leeds game. Cost their players, especially the Scottish ones quite a few caps.
I think they often do miss the club game immediately prior to the break as part of it. Players are often carrying niggles during a long season, and managers seem to look at an international break as an opportunity to give the player a 3 week break at the cost of missing only one club game.
