‘Complex issue’ is quite simple for Premier bosses. If an English player is better than a foreigner, he gets a game
THERE’S now another reason to despair at an international break being enforced three weeks into a new season.
Thanks to England’s inability to continue their World Cup overperforming act by beating the nation who went to Russia as second favourites, we’re holding the inquest we usually have after they’re dumped out at the quarter-finals.
And a consensus seems to have been reached.
That Gareth Southgate will never be able to pick a team capable of breaking down top international sides while Premier League managers keep denying Englishmen the necessary playing time.
Southgate brought it up before the 2-1 defeat to Spain, by lamenting that only 30 per cent of the players who started in the last round of Premier League fixtures were English, compared with an average of 33 per cent last season.
In what appeared a clear case of getting your excuses in first, the media-savvy Southgate said he wasn’t lecturing anyone, just highlighting what is a complex, but crucial, issue.
And he’s right. The issue is riddled with complexities. But, viewed from the perspective of a club manager, it’s a very simple one. If an English player is better – or more suited to his system – than a foreigner, he’ll play him.
The problem is that too many aren’t.
It’s fine pointing out that, since playing well in flashes at the World Cup, Ruben Loftus-Cheek (right) has completed only 33 Premier League minutes for Chelsea this season. But how can new boss Maurizio Sarri be criticised when he sees better midfield options, and his side is unbeaten.
How could you knock Mauricio Pochettino for not giving Danny Rose or Harry Winks enough playing time, when he has an exemplary track record of bringing through young Englishmen and he signed no foreign players in the summer to thwart their chances.
England Under-21 manager Aidy Boothroyd says he’s worried about Dominic Solanke not getting enough games under Jurgen Klopp.
But last season the stiker played in 27 games for Liverpool, albeit nearly always coming off the bench, yet scored only once. Unlike Trent Alexander-Arnold, 19, and 21-year-old Joe Gomez, who have become Anfield regulars ahead of seasoned internationals, Solanke has simply failed to grab his chance. But it may come. He’s only 20. Raheem Sterling is up against world-class oppositon for a starting place at Manchester City, but the competition seems to have only taken him up a level, which is why Pep Guardiola loves him.
There is talk that Marcus Rashford should leave Manchester United to get regular football, which will make him the finished product, but how did that work out for Danny Welbeck? Do we blame Unai Emery for rightly believing that Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette are better than him?
Since the beginning of last season Jose Mourinho has played Rashford in 38 games, and he’s still only 20.
Why should he drop down a level from United to get more game time to suit England when that’s the last thing he or his manager wants?
If Rashford backs himself to make it at the club he’s supported all of his life, why don’t we?
In a perfect world, there would be more Englishmen starting games at the top of the Premier League, but modern football is far from perfect.
There are sufficient examples at those clubs to show that if Englishmen are talented – and mentally strong – enough, they’ll break into the first team and stay there.
And if they’re not good enough or strong enough, well, they probably don’t have what it takes to break down the best international sides anyway.