Real Football Man All of the Football, All of the time
After Roy Hodgson named a provisional squad of 26 players the first thing we all did was try to work out which three wouldn’t be making the short journey to France. It seems as if that dilemma has been made a bit easier with the announcement that Fabian Delph will be left behind after picking up a groin strain
It’s fair to say that his inclusion raised a lot of eyebrows with many feeling that he hadn’t done enough to warrant inclusion in the provisional squad especially when you compare him to the performances of someone like Mark Noble he will no doubt feel aggrieved at not getting a look in after such a solid season for West Ham
It seems unlikely that Hodgson will be calling up any reinforcements to the squad especially with such little time before the May 31 deadline to put a replacement through their paces that and the fact the Midfield ranks are already heavily congested
With Delph not making the journey there are now 25 players fighting over 23 seats on the plane. A lot will now depend on Daniel Sturridge’s fitness as failure to recover from an injury picked up in training yesterday will make Hodgson’s job even easier
You can read more about here – http://realfootballman.com/football/injury-sturridge-give-rashford-seat-plane/
So with Delph out of the running and either Rashford or Sturridge making the cut then there is still one person who will be left behind and for me it’s a three way fight between Danny Drinkwater, Jack Wilshere and Jordan Henderson
Bar another injury breakdown you would have to imagine that Wilshere’s seat is confirmed. England have now won 9 games in a row when Wilshere plays, admittedly he didn’t play a massive role in Sunday’s win over Turkey but we seem to do well when he is in an England shirt
So then it’s a straight shootout between Danny Drinkwater and Jordan Henderson. Henderson played 25 minutes on Sunday and Drinkwater came on soon after neither made any real impact and they will be hoping for a start against Australia on Friday night
Danny Drinkwater will be looking to cap off a fantastic season after winning the Premier League with inclusion in the England squad while Jordan Henderson will be hoping that he can regain full fitness and hope his previous performances have been enough to win over Hodgson
And this for me is where Henderson may full short. In my opinion he’s never really done it for England and I think with Drinkwater having a fantastic season for Leicester it would be near criminal to leave him behind.
I think in this instance the England Manager has to go for form over reputation and a lack of match fitness. Henderson doesn’t quite have the attributes that Wilshere has to knock down Hodgson’s door even with a lack of game time and that could mean that Henderson ultimately is the odd man out.
