England call-up carrot Shelvey needs to see
Three Lions could do with Jonjo’s craft
OH what England wouldn’t give for a creative midfielder right now.
The Three Lions’ progress towards a tournament has been impressively routine. As usual, it masks bigger problems.
On the early evidence, Gareth Southgate’s England are unlikely to be remembered fondly. Despite the stardust supplied by the likes of Harry Kane, Marcus Rashford and Dele Alli, this is a functional team, and the laboured way they have seen off the minnows in qualifying does not fill you with hope.
The experimentation can start early, with today’s game in Lithuania. Formations can be tinkered with, fringe players given an opportunity.
There are, however, only a handful more matches before Southgate needs all his ducks in a row to take on the world. He could do with finding a convincing goalkeeper and a commanding centre-back but more than anything, he needs some midfield creativity.
Going into the Thursday’s game against Slovenia at Wembley with Eric Dier and Jordan Henderson shielding the back four and Raheem Sterling in the hole is unlikely to have made the likes of Brazil and Germany sit up and take notice.
Of all the things that down in tournaments, passing is normally near the top of the list and those players are unlikely to make much difference. For years it made the cold-shouldering of Michael Carrick frustrating but the Wallsend-born midfielder’s time has been and gone.
Dier is a good ballwinner with the defensive discipline to drop in between the centrebacks when England are in possession to allow the likes of Kyle Walker and Danny Rose to bomb on from full-back. That could be important.
Alli, suspended at Wembley after having the finger pointed at him for pointing the finger, has the ability to make good runs beyond the striker, an important skill if England play with just one up front. As an attacking midfielder, he is following in the footsteps of Frank Lampard and David Platt, rather than Paul Gascoigne or Bobby Charlton.
In between them, Wearsider Henderson is a “continuity” player – good at most things, outstanding at few. He is neat and tidy, unlikely to give the ball up as sloppily as some England midfielders have, but also unlikely to pick too many of the passes that will hurt the most organised defences. That more than anything is what England need.
According to WhoScored.com, four of the five most successful passers in let England this season’s Premier League are English – John Stones, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Jesse Lingard and Phil Jones – but for successful, read safe. Only Lingard has created a goal.
By Squawka.com’s reckoning, Ross Barkley – now unable to get a game at Everton – was the English midfielder who played most “key passes” per game in last season’s Premier League.
Statistics only tell you so much, but the fact Swansea City’s Tom Carroll is the only Englishman behind Alli (if you ignore one match for West Bromwich Albion’s Rekeem Harper) so far in 2017-18, suggests he might be worth a look. Chelsea’s Ruben Loftus-Cheek, in and out of Crystal Palace’s line-up since being loaned, has his cheerleaders. Adam Lallana looks the best option and plays deeper for Liverpool than the more attacking jobs which made his name at Southampton. The problem is, a thigh injury means he has not played since coming off the bench for England in France in this summer. The cupboard might not be completely bare, but it is certainly not overflowing. That has caused some people to mention Newcastle United’s Jonjo Shelvey. Shelvey has won six caps, the last nearly two years ago. A Shelvey-type player, comfortable dropping deep and threading accurate long passes, would certainly enhance England’s squad but he has a job on his hands to prove he is Newcastle’s best cre- ative midfielder, never mind England’s.
At home to Liverpool, Rafa Benitez played Shelvey and Mikel Merino together as the two holding midfielders in his preferred 4-2-3-1 formation for the first time. It worked well and Shelvey – who created Joselu’s goal – will be hoping Benitez persists because Merino has stolen a march on him, but it is more in the manager’s natural instincts to have a ball-winner like Isaac Hayden in the midfield mix.
That Merino had made himself the Magpies’ first-choice ball-player was partly his own doing, partly Shelvey’s. The Londoner’s stupid opening-weekend red card gave his Spanish rival the chance to show what he can do. Shelvey’s suspect temperament is something that will count against him in Southgate’s assessment.
The fight for his club place ought to be all the motivation Shelvey needs, but if he is dangled the carrot of a possible World Cup call-up, Newcastle can only benefit.