I reckon he'll go, but certainly still a long way to go and more hard work to be put in before that and sadly it would only take a short burst and a couple of goals from Carroll at the end of the season to get the nod ahead of him. The problem at the moment for him is that in England's current system he can't come on for Sturridge or Welbeck as he can't fill their roles without their mobility, so he can only get on with a change of shape to the team (Which will usually only be brought about by us losing/needing a goal) or for Rooney, which just isn't going to happen unless he gets injured or is having a catastrophic stinker. So all we need is Rooney to get injured... He says with a demented wide-eyed stare whilst rubbing his hands together gleefully... I'm finding it hard to have a normal England-supporting mentality at the moment, it used to be that whilst I wasn't in love with the team I'd watch all the games and support them regardless, but now I find myself wishing injury upon half the squad so that Saints players can get in. We only need Rooney, Carroll, Sturridge, Welbeck, Cole, Baines, Walker, Johnson, Jones, Milner, Chamberlain (Sorry Alex) and Townsend to get injured and we can have Rickie, Adam, Luke and Nat all in the World Cup squad!
Would have loved to have seen a dual on Tuesday night where England won a penalty for Lambert to take on Boruc, could have been an interesting one! The front three for England last night linked up well but are not clinical (something Lambert has been). I think Hodgson may give him another chance to prove his worth (against a team like Germany would be a true test) as fortunately he is not a reactionary manager unlike the press. Two apparent national press experts [Henry Winter - The Times and Shaun Custis The Sun] told the BBC earlier when talking about the 2014 World Cup squad: You have to take five strikers. I would include the three that played last night... and then a Carroll and a Defoe. I don't think Rickie Lambert has got much chance of going to be honest. When asked by the presenter, what if Carroll was injured: ''You have always got to have a big lump upfront... We might have to hit one long with five minutes to go, you would take that sort of player...'' Sometimes you do wonder about these apparently knowledgeable football writers and wonder if they have seen Lambert play much. They also plumped for Ravel Morrison to be taken because he is the ''best kid coming through since Gazza'' but 'you can't possibly take... Lampard, Carrick and Gerrard''.
If the journalist preferred Carroll to Lambert because 'you need a big lump up front' then presumably he didn't include Rickie in that category (bet he did though). Very rude to Carroll anyway...big man would suffice. In Rickie's second England appearance he made two goals and scored one...anyone could see he had a lot going for him. He was isolated in the third game and got no service...a shame as many wrote him off after that, though I'm sure an experienced manager like Hodgson saw that he did his part. Rickie is in place which gives him some advantage, but Hodgson wants to try youngsters (although he also added that they would find it tough to displace his players). I reckon that Rickie's chance of going to Rio is 50:50
In the Express, they put Rickie in the first choice for the Rio team (always liked the Express ) and Luke in the outside choice. The advantage that SRL has is that very few of the players coming through are strikers. All he can do is keep fit and have a good season.
The good news for Rickie is that he has now been part of a few England set-ups and has his foot in the door. Roy has worked with him and has a better understanding of what he can do. We all have an unbiased opinion on Lambert v Carroll, but I'm confident that barring some incredible late scoring charge that Lambert will get the nod. The only threat from u21level is belhandino or however you spell it and he is more in the Defoe/Sturridge mould of striker. I hope Roy uses the friendlies wisely and gives different combinations a chance
Sadly I feel like he probably won't make it, but it's still a long way off yet. I suspect we may have one or two other surprises between now and then - a first cap for Lallana perhaps?
Most pundits seem to prefer Carroll to Lambert. I can't imagine why, Rickie is by far the superior player. But on the other hand, Carroll once played for Liverpool, that must be it, i can't think of anything else.
Will be unlikely to start a game, but could get a chance if we needed to win and we were drifting to defeat. They should take Rickie just to have his big smiley face at breakfast every morning
I'm usually one for predicting the future but on this question I think that it is way too early to know. There is always at least one high profile injury before an international tournament with Wayne Rooney particularly cursed and Rickie certainly wouldn't like to finish this season the way he finished the last. If it comes down to a straight choice between a fit Lambert or a fit Carroll than I think that Rickie will go because he will score more goals than Carroll this season.
