Wodwell? What About Cork and Westwood, Woy?

Back in May when Manchester United's Tom Cleverley had shied away from England's fairly meaningless double header with Republic of Ireland and Brazil, surely there was only one midfielder who deserved the senior call-up?

Well, I suppose in Woy Hodgson's small mind there was. Woy, after giving it much deliberation, and spending countless minutes looking through the squad sheets of Man Utd, Man City, Chelsea and Liverpool, decided on the injury-plagued Jack Rodwell.

Jack Rodwell's talent is undoubted. If he gets over his injury problems he can be one hell of a player. (Big 'IF' though for a player with his fitness record.)

Regardless, if the England boss was to pick players 'on form and merit' like he'd vowed when appointed, Rodwell wouldn't be under consideration, surely?

11 games this season, with only 6 being starts hardly screams 'pick me'. At seasons' end, the 22 year old boasted a mightily impressive 90.1% pass completion, but looking further into that, suggests the number isn't quite as impressive when taking into account that he averaged a paltry 23.8 passes per game, (along with a shoddy 0.1 key passes per game ratio.)

Also, a quick look at his defensive displays when out of possession, 0.7 tackles per game, 0.6 interceptions wouldn't fill the average England fan with much confidence when placed alongside the defence negligent Frank Lampard.

In his very few games this season, Rodwell has at least looked competent when more advanced. Averaging around 2 shots every 3 games, and his 2 goals vs. Norwich (and subsequent Man of the Match) performance also suggests this.

Looking at his overall contribution to Manchester City's failed season though, Rodwell has been below par. A poor acquisition for the amount paid.

His 'no-form' season, would pose the question, to Woy at least, 'How did he merit a call-up?'

So then, who did merit a call-up?

I have two alternatives. The first is Southampton's Jack Cork.

I've touched on the 'Southampton Syndrome' already, but regardless of the FA's strange reluctance to cap Saints' players, I think Cork deserves a chance.

Despite coming through at Chelsea, Cork has spent most of his time as a professional in the Lower Leagues. He's also played at all but Senior level for England too, including the Great Britain Olympic team.

So, what makes Jack Cork, a League One player just 2 seasons ago, deserve an England chance?

Looking at this season, Cork's first full season in the Premier League, the 24 year old clocked up 28 appearances, with all but 4 lasting the full 90 minutes.

In what can be classed as a successful campaign for Southampton, Cork was instrumental. His calmness and concentration in midfield provided the Saints with a platform to attack.

Averaging 52.8 passes per game with a completion rate of 83.6%, with a key pass per game in his locker, statistics more than back up Cork's claim.

Defensively, he excels where Rodwell falls short. With an average of 4 successful tackles and 5 inceptions every 2 games, with a couple of clearances added per game too.

But in a reverse, where Rodwell showed some competence, Cork lacked. No goals or assists, with a tendency to shoot once every two games, Cork offers less going forward, which is understandable considering the deeper role he has at club level. Still, as proven in the past, he can play forward to better effect, as was the case during his Burnley stint.

The second alternative, and maybe I'm a little biased, is former Crewe Captain and Player of the Year Ashley Westwood. A deep-lying playmaker in the 'Carrick mould' Westwood made the jump from League Two/League One to the Premier League with a certain ease.

Making 28 Premier League starts for Aston Villa, Westwood had a somewhat mixed first few weeks. By the end of the season, Westwood had fully established himself as a Premier League player and an integral part of Lambert's team. Aston Villa fans would be hard pressed to name a player (bar Benteke) to have finished the season in finer form.

Let's break it down to numbers. With a modest pass average of 44.5 per game, an 84.8% completion rate (in one game peaking with an unmatched 98% pass completion), Westwood clocked up 6 assists. That's with inclusion of his average key pass per game and 3 successful long passes per 90 minutes, displaying the young playmakers range.

Defensively, Westwood is strong. 3 tackles, 3 clearances, a block and 5 interceptions every 2 games back this up.

Again, similar to Cork, Westwood isn't as potent offensively, though his 6 assists isn't to be sniffed at.

Regardless of all those stats, neither get much recognition outside of their own clubs. Both deserve a chance at least, in my view. Either deserved a chance in the double header ahead of Rodwell.

As an Aston Villa fan though, I'm torn with being pissed off Westwood gets no recognition from England, yet pleased he isn't called up. As in the past, when one of our players goes on England duty, they either get injured or tapped up.

The Curious Case of Adam Lallana

So, what exactly have England and the English FA got against Southampton Football Club?

During the Saint's original stint in the Premier League in the mid-90's, it was the naturally gifted Matt Le Tissier who was continually overlooked. Now it seems to be the likes of Ricky Lambert, Jack Cork and of course, Adam Lallana being given the International cold shoulder.

Nothing new it seems though, for club stalwart, and captain, Adam Lallana. Since his breakthrough season in 2008/09 campaign (clocking up an impressive 43 appearances), Lallana has gone from strength to strength for club.

Even relegation from the Championship couldn't halt Lallana's development. The youngster, showing such character, and a maturity beyond his years took the club by the scruff. Thriving from the extra responsibilty placed on his shoulders, the midfield ace bagged a very impressive 20 goals in all competitions. (The first player since Saints club legend Matt Le Tissier.)

Lallana had arrived.

In the seasons that followed, minor injuries began niggling him, yet he would still play a vital role in Southampton's next 2 campaigns, hitting double figures in both the assists and goals columns, contributions that went a long way in sealing back-to-back promotions to the Premier League.

Despite Southampton's cash injection, Lallana, now 25, has remained a vital member of Southampton Football Club. His fighting nature seems to run through the team in his presense. Whether it's goals, assists, short passes, crosses, or putting his foot in, Lallana has it all in his locker. The grit to match his technique.

So why then, has such a talent been left by the International wayside?

Solitary caps at U18, U19 and U21 levels is nothing short of a disgrace. It's bad enough when the eligible Germany-based Lewis Holtby went under the radar until he'd finally opted for his homeland, but for a player of Lallana's quality to be overlooked while players like Jermaine Jenas and Kieron Dyer collected caps like Merlin stickers, is quite simply, BS.

The average likes of Jonjo Shelvey, Jordan Henderson and the ageing Leon Osman have jumped ahead in the pecking order, but here comes the sickener. Jake Livermore, the rightful whipping boy of the Tottenham Hotspur fans has won a cap, and not too long ago either. Jake bloody Livermore!

It baffles the mind.

The only recognition Woy and the incompetent FA have shown Lallana was a last ditch call-up vs. Ukraine, following his Championship season. Woy it seemed was scratching around for players to patch up a depleted squad.

Lallana though,  wasn't deemed good enough to even make the substitutes bench.

Depite that previous call-up, and a successful Premier League season with Southampton under his belt, a senior England cap still alludes the Saints' man.

I guess, even from the days of the magical Matt Le Tissier,  the Southampton Syndrome lives on.

Ron Doe or Ronaldo?

What is modern day football's fascination with a foreign name?

And what I mean is, well, let's take Roberto Martinez as an example.

The Spaniard recently relegated Wigan from the Premier League. A feat no other Wigan manager has reached, heck, not even close. Yet Martinez did, and that's after flirting with the drop year upon year. Yes, he's put the FA Cup trophy on the table of 'Uncle Dave' Whelan but at the huge expense of Wigan and their Premier League status. Which in turn, has cost the club around £70m in new TV money. The sort of figure that could make or break a small club like Wigan.

Yet, because Martinez has the Latin charisma, the exotic name and swaggers about the touchline in a nice suit, he's heralded as a great manager.
'Performed miracles at Wigan', 'One of the top managers in Europe'. Part of the Top 5 in fact, according to the annoying, loose lipped Dave Whelan.

We constantly get told of Roberto's philosophy of great football and his ability to unearth gems. All of which proved futile and somewhat false. The fact is he took Wigan down. End of.

And then jumped ship to blind admirers Everton.

So why then, did it take Scottish manager Owen Coyle so long to get another job? The man who 4 out of 5 seasons finished above Martinez. The cynic in me can't help but think it's because he was born in Paisley, Scotland and not Balaguer in Spain.

Tracksuit clad Owen Coyle, has always had his teams playing the right way, and had it been for similar FA Cup luck as Wigan, could well have had Bolton's name on the trophy at the end of the 2010/11 season.

As it turned it, Bolton eventually suffered the drop and not long after Coyle recieved his marching orders. A real contrast to Martinez who was rewarded with a Top Premier League job.

After a while out of the game, Owen Coyle has recently been named, coincidentally, as the new Wigan Athletic manager, following Martinez's distasteful leap to Goodison.

Now, don't get me wrong, such bias and favouritism towards the foreigner isn't exclusive to the English football family, journalists, pundits and whatnot, it's an unfortunate trait that has trickled down to the heartbeat of football - the fans.

Players too, can often find themselves victims of such sketchy views.

A quick look at my own club, Aston Villa, last summer, Ashley Westwood and Matthew Lowton were brought into the club, to very little fanfare. Disgruntled noises on message boards became a theme during the summer. Fast forward 12 months and the same fans are getting giddy as the likes of Leandro Bacuna and Antonio Luna join the Villa ranks.

The effects of such a modern dismissive nature runs deeper in football, but to be honest, I don't care enough about the FA's around the UK and their national sides at the moment to delve any deeper, so for now at least, on the surface I'll scratch.

And on that surface, take Harry Forrester and Dale Jennings. Two names that are not well known. (To the average Premier League fan at least).

After Forrester's contract ended with Aston Villa not too long ago, he was offered a deal with Ajax after impressing in the Hong Kong 7's tournament.

Subsequently, the exciting Forrester turned down Ajax's offer (as he was reportedly apprehensive of a move abroad) and ended up moving to Brentford. No offense to Brentford, but how was it no bigger team on these shores could claim his signature? Probably because teams like Fulham were too busy stockpiling Johnny Foreigners into their squads, that's why. Now, as it turns out, Forrester has just had a breakout season with Brentford and is now linked with a move to the Premier League.

Dale Jennings' situation was a little different. Jennings was rightly placed in the 'exciting prospect' category at Tranmere a couple of seasons ago. But when push came to shove, no club in England obviously thought he was exciting enough. Their loss, Jennings signed for Bayern Munich. This summer however, a homesick Dale Jennings headed back to England. Highly rated by the staff at the current European champions, Jennings must surely have had many suitors vying for his signature? Aston Villa? Arsenal? Liverpool? No, no and no.

After being linked with Huddersfield, Jennings moved to Barnsley for a very modest fee, signing a 3-year deal.

Rankles a bit when you see that Premier League cannon fodder Sunderland have just brought in three 'Johnnys' and look likely to sign more. Even Aston Villa's Paul Lambert has succumb to the horrible trend and done all his shopping abroad so far.

Unfortunately, it's British players like Harry Forrester and Dale Jennings, and British managers like Owen Coyle who are being pushed aside for mediocrity, just because that mediocrity is from overseas.

The Michael Appleton Effect

I would love to see what Michael Appleton has wrote on his CV. Or better still, who his agent is. The guy went from the incapable caretaker-manager of West Brom to perennial managerial link.

Today's version of Alan Curbishley, Appleton is included almost by default, on any shortlist, for any managerial job. So I would just like to know, WHY?

What the hell has Michael Appleton ever done? As a player, he was o.k., decent, 'Meh'. Injury forced him into early retirement, and he began coaching the youth teams at West Brom. So far, nothing that stands out.

He worked his way up at West Brom to become Woy Hodgson's Assistant. Still, nothing of note.

He then got offered, and accepted the Portsmouth job. A club in freefall, needed a cheap option, and in turn, Appleton was a cheap gamble. That cheap gamble got Portsmouth relegated from the Championship, yet Appleton's stock seemed to rise. (A poor 13 wins in 51 games seemingly not taken into account.)

It rose so much so in fact, that in November, 2012, Appleton disregarded his own comments of 'not walking away from Pompey', and took on the Blackpool job (totally ignoring, or not caring about his Preston past.) After a less than stellar job at Blackpool, winning only 2 of 12 games in charge, Appleton was headhunted by Blackburn Rovers, and again walked out on his current club to take the job.

After just 67 days and a 27% win record with one of the pre-season promotion favourites, Appleton lost his job.

Hopefully the football family have finally seen sense. The bookies still have him earmarked for every job, and that doesn't look like changing anytime soon.

But for any chairman out there looking to recruit a new manager, just remember, 'Men lie, women lie, numbers don't.'