22 Jun 2014

Jamie Carragher insists: It's time to dump Hendo and bring 'scary' £30m star into the England fold. Agree...?

England's pampered, grossly overpaid playboys are licking their wounds after suffering World Cup humiliation (again), and with Costa Rica still to come, there's a chance that England could end the tournament with their most embarrassing set of results in the history of the competition. Predictably, the knives are out, and the English media is looking for scapegoats, and the prevailing view seems to be that wholesale changes are needed for final group game. Out with the old and in with the new is the general theme, but Anfield legend Jamie Carragher insists that one of England's rising young stars should also face the chop.

Speaking to Sky Sports this weekend, Carra called for Roy Hodgson to drop Liverpool star Jordan Henderson. He explained:

“Bring Jack Wilshere in. Jordan Henderson has done ok after a great season, but it could be time for Wilshere. In the second half of the Uruguay game, that [Wilshere for Hendo] was a substitution that should have been made much earlier".

Carra's entitled to his view, but I totally disagree with this. The fanfare over Wilshere really makes me laugh; what exactly has he done in the game - for Arsenal or England - to warrant such adulation? Absolutely nothing. He's just another overhyped English player coasting along on a reputation constructed and perpetuated by media hyperbole.

Reds legend Dietmar Hamann is no fan of Wilshere. After watching the Arsenal man's performance against Ukraine last season, he tweeted:

"Jack Wilshere is world class? Done nothing in the game. England media hyped up Wilshere to be world class [but] he's a talent, no more".

Steven Gerrard has a long history of starry-eyed hyperbole when it comes to certain players, and his views on Wilshere are typically exaggerated. In a recent interview, he told Reporters:

"He [Wilshere] is a one-off. He's a lot better than your normal Premier League midfielder. I think he's got the potential to become one of the best in the world. He can tick almost every box, and he'll get better than he is now which is a scary thought"

Wilshere - who according to Arsenal legend Paul Merson is worth £30m - has barely played 80 Premier League games for Arsenal in his entire career, and he's apparently on his way to being one of the 'best in the world'?! What happened to actually *proving* your ability over a period of time, and making a specific, measurable impact for your team?

In my view, Hendo fully deserves his place, and once the England team is no longer tainted by the failed 'Golden Generation', he'll be able to impose himself properly, just as he did during Gerrard's injury period last season.

As for England: As I've argued repeatedly over the last few years, the team will not progress until ALL the players associated with laughably labelled 'golden generation' are jettisoned from the squad. Gerrard, Lampard, Johnson, Rooney et al should all be replaced with younger, hungrier players, untainted by years of abject, inexcusable failure.

A scorched earth policy is required, and should've been implemented two years ago. why do the likes of Gerrard and Rooney deserve more time in the England team? Over the last 15 years, the 'golden generation' have failed time and time again (Brazil 2014 is the latest sorry example), and until these overpaid international failures are put out to pasture, they'll continue to stunt the forward progress of the team.

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7 comments:

  1. Suarez is off to Barcelona, it must be true it is an exclusive in the Bognor Regis Observer - really.

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  2. I agree, whenever I see him about to be dispossessed I know he is going to fall over.

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  3. Does anyone really care anymore..?

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  4. Wilshare for Gerrard! He was getting carried for so long in that game and wasn't affecting anything. It's was a plain as the sizable nose of Hodgepodge's face but he has not got the cajones to do it. Gerard as brillaint as he was can't work in a two man midfield and that is essentially what it was.

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  5. On the wholesale changes for Costa Rica I think that is only fair. Give the lads who have not had a game a game and see if they can impose themselves any better than the preferred starting 11. Truth be told some of them should have had more game time anyway but I can't be bothered slaughtering Hodge anymore.

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  6. JK, tell us how you really feel about the English team :)

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  7. Wilshire is a decent player but for me he takes too many touches on the ball, that's why he gets fouled so much.

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