By Simon Wright – Follow
me on Twitter @Siwri88
England
manager Roy Hodgson announced his squad on Thursday for the international
friendly with old enemies Scotland next week and there were few surprises.
The expected
faces will all feature in a friendly that might well be part of the FA’s 150th
anniversary celebrations, but comes at a very inconvenient time for club
managers, with the new Premier League season due to start just three days after
the Wembley clash.
One man
though who will get an opportunity to shine for the Three Lions is striker
Rickie Lambert (pictured).
The
31-year-old scored 15 goals in the top flight last season, and was joint top
English goalscorer in the league alongside goalscoring midfielder Frank
Lampard.
Lambert
outscored the likes of Wayne Rooney, Jermain Defoe, Andy Carroll and Daniel
Sturridge, who are all rivals for a striking berth in a World Cup squad next
summer should England even qualify for Brazil 2014.
There is no
doubt that he deserves his chance too.
Lambert has had to fight his way up the divisions and has scored at all
levels, before joining current club Southampton for £1m from Bristol Rovers in
August 2009. He helped the south coast
club back to the big time with back-to-back promotions, and the goals he scored
last season kept them comfortably afloat in the Premier League in a respectable
14th spot.
He has his
critics perhaps for not being the creative, stylish striker of the modern
generation, but that’s nothing against Lambert.
He plays to his strengths and it is always handy to have a big striker
as an alternative attacking option.
Hodgson has
been criticised throughout his management for playing and largely sticking to
the outdated 4-4-2 formation which has certainly had its day of age. His tactics might have meant England have
only lost once in his management over 90 minutes, but it leaves qualification
for Brazil 2014 on the edge with Montenegro favourites at the moment to finish
top of Group G.
Therefore he
needs to mix his options up. Should England
be heading for a South American summer next year, you’d imagine barring injury
or a dramatic loss of form that Rooney, Defoe and Danny Welbeck will have spots
on the plane. This leaves three strikers
fighting for one spot and that should be between Sturridge, Carroll and
Lambert, with Norwich’s new signing Gary Hooper as an outsider despite his move
down south from Celtic.
Sturridge is
probably the favourite for that fourth spot.
He looks to have found his club after scoring freely for Liverpool since
his January switch from Chelsea, but is still injured following an ankle
problem sustained in England’s disappointing friendly draw with the Republic of
Ireland in late May.
Carroll has
now completed a £15m move away from Anfield to West Ham. Although he can be a nuisance in the box, his
goalscoring record isn’t anything special and his injury track record is even
worse. Peter Crouch is a better option
in this department, though his England days ended when he refused to be placed
on the standby squad list for Euro 2012.
This gives
Lambert his opportunity to shine and it would be good if he started from the
outset against Scotland, considering that Rooney has not played at all in
pre-season as speculation continues to persist over his future at Manchester
United.
He might not
be a favourite with everyone, but Rickie Lambert deserves his chance to shine
in an England shirt, and what an occasion it should be for him too. It is a real boost to both his self-esteem,
and that of Southampton who could be a dark horse to do very well this season
under the astute guidance of the clever, if sometimes shy Argentine Mauricio
Pochettino.
The Scotland
game gives Hodgson the chance to explore some options ahead of a routine
qualifier at home to Moldova in September, before another huge test against
Ukraine in Kiev. He can’t waste this
chance to experiment next week, or it could be fatal to England’s qualification
hopes and to his management career too. The
honeymoon period for Roy is well and truly over.
ENGLAND SQUAD TO FACE SCOTLAND AT
WEMBLEY STADIUM NEXT WEDNESDAY
Goalkeepers: Joe Hart (Manchester City), Ben
Foster (West Brom), John Ruddy (Norwich City)
Defenders: Glen Johnson (Liverpool), Gary Cahill
(Chelsea), Phil Jones (Manchester United), Ashley Cole (Chelsea), Leighton
Baines (Everton), Kyle Walker (Tottenham Hotspur), Chris Smalling (Manchester
United), Phil Jagielka (Everton)
Midfielders: Steven Gerrard (Liverpool), Jack
Wilshere (Arsenal), Michael Carrick (Manchester United), Frank Lampard
(Chelsea), James Milner (Manchester City), Theo Walcott (Arsenal), Tom
Cleverley (Manchester United), Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (Arsenal), Wilfried Zaha
(Manchester United), Ashley Young (Manchester United)
Strikers: Wayne Rooney (Manchester United),
Jermain Defoe (Tottenham Hotspur), Danny Welbeck (Manchester United), Rickie
Lambert (Southampton)
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