I’ll have to select fringe players, warns Allardyce
ENGLAND manager Sam Allardyce has Manchester United defender Luke Shaw and Crystal Palace’s £13million summer signing Andros Townsend in mind for his first match in charge, away to Slovakia in World Cup qualification on September 4.
But he admits he may also have to select players who are not first-team regulars for their clubs.
In his first week as the new England manager, Allardyce and the FA have been keen to preach evolution rather than revolution, not wanting a disastrous 90 minutes against Iceland to overshadow the progress they felt was made under Roy Hodgson.
Shaw, 21, wasn’t seriously considered for Euro 2016 by Hodgson, having been out since September with a broken leg. But the £27m left-back has done well for Manchester United in pre-season and looks unrestricted by his injury.
Townsend, 25, was a key figure in England’s run to the World Cup in 2014 but he missed those finals through injury and was left out of Hodgson’s squad this summer largely due the emergence of Marcus Rashford.
Allardyce has given both players encouragement of a quick international return.
‘Shaw seemed to have coped with his move to Manchester United before his unfortunate injury and is now coming back,’ said the England manager.
‘You’ve got Andros Townsend, who looked like an international world-beater a couple of years ago and has got himself back playing regular Premier League football. Could he re-emerge?
‘That is just one or two who may make a breakthrough. The difficult task for me is the first squad, not due to the Euros but because of what condition the players will be in.
‘They have had a short break, linking up with their teams all over the world, and the start of the Premier League is August 13, not too far away.’
Allardyce describes himself as a pragmatist and his first squad will be selected on the basis of getting a result in Trnava rather than worrying about what kind of side he’ll want in Russia two years from now.
But he does accept that the relatively small pool of English talent — just 34 per cent of Premier League players are eligible — means he won’t be able to automatically ignore players struggling to get a game for their club team.
Only nine of the 61 first-team players signed by Premier League clubs this summer so far are available to Allardyce. The country’s four Champions League teams Leicester City, Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester City have signed only one Englishman between them — 20-year-old Bolton defender Rob Holding, who joined Arsene Wenger’s team — although Manchester City are in talks to sign Everton’s £50m centre-back John Stones.
Allardyce added: ‘I think you have to select players who aren’t playing for their clubs. You have to. I talked to Roy many times about the fact you are often picking fringe players as well as regulars.
‘That goes without saying now when you’ve only got 34 per cent. Now I’m sat in this position it’s disappointing but I also understand the pressures of being a Premier League manager.
‘One of the hard bits is having the smallest available pool of English players ever. But a good thing is some young talent has emerged together in a short period of time. What happened in the Euros was disappointing, but before the tournament it looked very good. So perhaps it was a little too soon for them.’
Marcus Rashford faces a battle to play regularly for Manchester United this season following the arrival of Zlatan Ibrahimovic, with competition from Wayne Rooney and £36m forward Anthony Martial.
‘Yes, I hope Rashford plays games,’ admitted Allardyce. ‘It will just be down to himself. If Mourinho sees the talent that emerged last year he picks himself even if his role is different because Mourinho has brought in some terrific players.
‘What an exciting prospect he looks. It’s not easy to put in those youngsters as a Premier League manager because of the cost of failure. But when you get someone emerging like Rashford, it’s encouraging to know there is talent lurking.
‘What I’m hoping is that so many English players are doing well, it makes my life difficult choosing which ones to pick.’