... but who else have the Mirror got? http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/jamie-vardy-not-good-enough-6386030 ... funny how this guy had to write something like this ... a case of his ring still smarting from a guest appearance on TalkSport pre-season perhaps - when he confidently predicted Leicester City's relegation slating the players management and just about everything else about the club ... hope we continue to stuff it back in his face all season ... suspect he has never played the game at any decent level himself and judging by his mug shot the Mirror should probably switch him to the food and drink section ... looks more like a fast food expert than a sports journalist
The man his a first class p***k, he hates everything about Leicester City and his knowledge of football is very questionable. Vardy has his limits but needs games to adjust,like he had to in the championship and now in the prem teams have to play to his strengths, and with the overated Rooney (who could never play well or score for England when it mattered ) and the glamour pussy Kane, Unfortunately I don't think JV will get another chance with England. He will just have to do it for us and stuff all the p***ks that keep knocking us.
Vardy did more in the game than Rooney. I know Rooney scored a pen (if the keeper had stood still he would have saved it), but Vardy was played out of position. I thought he did more than okay in the 1st half, but faded in the 2nd mainly due to no-one passing to him.
There will always be those that think that any player at a club like Leicester should not be considered for England. If they were that good, wouldn't Man Utd or Liverpool, or at the very least Everton or Tottenham, come calling? Heskey only managed to break into the England fold when Liverpool were sniffing around him despite doing well for us for four years at the highest level. In fairness, I suppose the journo has a point. Is Vardy world class? Because that's what an England striker should be. The fact Vardy is being considered for England IS evidence that we don't have what it takes to compete against Spain, Germany, Argentina etc internationally (the same can be said about previous England players like Crouch, Ashton and Andy Johnson, while Rooney has lived too long on past glories). It's not so much a slur against Vardy as that of the domestic scene in this country. That said, some of that article - like bringing up Japgate and the Danny Murphy reference - are a bit unnecessary, but it's up to Vardy or any of our players to prove the critics wrong. Personally, I hope he does OK for England but saves his best for his club. Isn't that what Rooney and co usually do anyway? And Danny Murphy scoffed at the idea of Vardy playing for England? I scoffed when when Danny Murphy played for England too.
Some good points Gangsta ... but what are Roone's 'past glories' ? ... he has failed at every international tournament he has been at. .. world class? ... or merely the best that England has?
He did OK at Euro 2004. I was really talking in general about Rooney rather than just England. He's nowhere near the player that burst onto the scene at 16 years of age.
... the point I was making is that Vardy is not out of place in that company by any means ... now he wouldn't have got in the '66 or '90 sides admittedly! ...
Well - can you image Vardy playing for a top club? I suppose that's the question you have to ask yourself. No matter what we think of Rooney, Milner, Cahill, Henderson etc, they've all done it. I think I'd be surprised if one of the big five enquired about Vardy.
... then neither is / was Wes Morgan, Sean St Ledger, David Nugent, Paul Konchesky, Darius Vassell, Kevin Davies, Peter Crouch, Andy Carroll, Andros Townsend the list goes on and on ... but actually they are .... because an international manager thinks / thought that they are / were the best players available to represent their country at a particular point in time ... Is Harry Kane an international ? ... some would argue yes ... but if so it's more on potential than what he has achieved to date ... Don't misunderstand me ... I don't have Vards up there with even my Leicester City greats .. but he offers something that the other current English forwards don't and for that reason he deserves to be 'an international' ...
We won the World cup in 1966 with players from Leicester City, Fulham, West Ham, Everton, Blackpool and Liverpool (only recently promoted from League 2) in the team ... perhaps there is a lesson there ... it was picked on form for their respective teams rather than which club they played for ...
Completely lost all credibility when he bemoaned the loss of quality drop-outs like Jordan Henderson and Adam Lallana, both of whom are effectively being picked because of the club they play for (perhaps a little harsh on Henderson who does at least look relatively good for Liverpool, but Lallana can't even claim that).
The trouble with picking players in form is that you don't give the England side the consistency needed. You could see the players around Vardy (except maybe Shelvey) weren't aware of how best to feed his talents. This comes with experience. If Hodgson has picked Vardy simply because he's been playing well but has no intention of using him in the tournament itself, then he's merely used him to give others a rest and/or cover injuries. If he's seriously thinks Vardy is one the best four English strikers, then either the big clubs will come knocking or the England team is seriously struggling for depth.
... I wouldn't place as much emphasis on that as you do tbh ... even at the level I played (which was fair) the better players, particularly the ex-pros, soon adapted to new additions / formations ... one problem England do have currently is that Rooney is too often the target, even if others are better placed ... Milner only seems to see Rooney - Milner's fault not Rooney's - that is on those infrequent occasions where he didn't give the ball straight to the keeper.. I do think a combination of Shelvey and Vardy could create problems for even the best international defences ... There is another interesting comparison between the 66 side and the current lot - up until the finals Sir Alf had played with a wide man in Terry Paine plus England's talismanic goal scorer, Jimmy Greaves - whilst it was subsequently smothered by the resulting success, Sir Alf's decision to drop Paine for a young grafter playing for Blackpool, Allan Ball, and replace the 'undropable' Jimmy with the relatively inexperienced Geoff Hurst / Martin Peters caused a furore in the national media - it was a calculated gamble that, as history now shows, paid off - because the new formation / team just grew and grew throughout the competition ... Now then Woy!
Vardy is the best England striker on current form. Rooney and Kane are yet to score this season. Rooney didnt have a great season by any standards last year or the year before that Sturridge is injured as is Welbeck and theres no other English strikers worth considering atm Austin is playing in the Championship and Callum Wilson has only played 4 games at Premier League level so isnt worth considering atm
Selective vetting aside (you can't discount all Kane's and Austin's goals from last season just because they haven't score in the last four games!), this is what I meant about picking players in form. England is a long term project so the next round of games will see different players in form. A manager needs to select a squad based on quality, not form, but at the same time, he shouldn't pick players who rest on past glories either.
The consistency of I forget which player it was, but they said it was harder to get out of Sir Alf Ramsey's squad than to get in it. Like they say, class is permanent and form is temporary. Sir Alf picked his squad and stuck with it long term. The German approach is the same - assemble a group of players 4 years before a tournament and stick with them.
