Fabian Delph - Signed for Manchester City

[Monty]

I've got to say, I'm always impressed by Delph in interviews. He speaks well and articulately, he has a vocabulary and, weirdest for a footballer, a sense of humour. Good for him.

[UK Redsox]

Its just a shame that when he tries to make a tackle his legs go all over the place like a newly born foal.

[ozzjim]

Its just a shame that when he tries to make a tackle his legs go all over the place like a newly born foal.

They seem to be perfectly co-ordinated in a dual attempt to kick the nearest legs to me!

[villan from luton]

Not read all the pages, but think Delph has a lot of potential and can be a top player. He needs to add goals for sure but am sure he can do that. Barkley ahead of him in the England squad is just press coverage over first game at mighty Norwich. Wasnt Barkley the chump at under 21 who had one long sleeve and one short one a la de rossi, who is a player. Pathetic

[paul_e]

Having watched the highlights of that norwich - everton game I'd say Barkley is decent but nothing more.  Yes it was a good debut but in real terms it was nothing like a good enough performance to be fast tracked into the national team.  It's a lot like Raheem Stirling this time last year, he had a few performances of looking decent without actually achieving anything and got a call up on the back of it.  Woy seems to pick players based on the back pages of the sunday papers.  The national team is poor anyway but he has done an excellent job of turning it into a complete joke where caps are based on PR rather than performance.

[Matt Collins]

Harsh. Bit similar to comments about 12 years agin on Rooney. He looks to have something special to me. But so does delph

[paul_e]

Harsh. Bit similar to comments about 12 years agin on Rooney. He looks to have something special to me. But so does delph

I'm not saying he won't go on to be a good player, I'm just saying that if you compare him directly with Delph, Henderson, and a few others who are a couple of years older his performances aren't anything special.  Rooney got into the England team after an largely average start to his career but with 1-2 spectacular performances.  If Barkley/Sterling/Welbeck/Cleverley/Zaha had a couple of those to fall back on I'd be happy for them to get a call up but none of them do.  To put it more clearly, have any of them had a performance better than Albrighton vs West Ham a few years ago?  I'd argue not but if any of these guys deserve a call up then so did he at the time.

[eastie]

A very good article from the mirror by the much criticised Robbie savage

By Robbie Savage | 30/08/13 

England caps should be earned on merit – not handed out to form-horses who have played two decent games at the start of a season.

I have nothing against Andros Townsend or Ross Barkley, who are both fine young players, but have they really done enough to warrant their call-ups into the squad for two World Cup qualifiers?

Last season, both went out on loan in the Championship – although Townsend went on to join QPR’s relegation battle in the Premier League – so their rise to the full England squad has been fairly meteoric.

But to me, these selections are more of a reflection on who they play for, rather than how good they are.

There is a black hole, halfway between London and the North West, called the Midlands.

And if Roy Hodgson popped in there to watch Aston Villa, surely he would know that Gabby Agbonlahor and Fabian Delph had been playing out of their skins.

I will have to be careful, or at this rate Villa fans might start to like me after I tipped them for relegation last season, but if sustained form is the main ­criterion for international honours, it’s illogical that Townsend and Barkley have been picked ahead of Agbonlahor and Delph.

Why have those two Villa boys not had a look-in?

If you need to have played for the Under-21s recently, or you have to play for a club in the top half of the Premier League, Hodgson should say so.

But if you are picking an England squad based on current form, there is no way Agbonlahor deserves to be overlooked.

He tore Arsenal to shreds at the Emirates on the opening day of the season.

Anyone who saw him that day would have marked him down as potential England material.

He was sensational.

So why has Townsend, who was superb for Tottenham in Tbilisi and a handful against Swansea at the weekend, got in ahead of him?

Or Ashley Young, who has played only 20 minutes of ­football since returning from a long-term injury, for that matter?

Could it be that they play for “fashionable” clubs?

If ­Agbonlahor and Delph played for a top-four club, would they be in the squad?

My guess is, yes they would.

Don’t get me wrong: Barkley is an exciting talent, and I believe he will go on to be top-drawer one day.

But two promising games for Everton don’t make you a legend.

This is not the first time I’ve been mystified by Hodgson’s selections lately.

His hunch in picking Rickie Lambert against Scotland paid off handsomely – and I was delighted for the Southampon striker that he came off the bench to head the winner.

But if he was good enough to play for England before the Premier League campaign had kicked off in August, why was he not good enough to make the squad last season, when he scored 15 goals for Saints?

What changed over the course of the summer?

It will be interesting to see how the pecking order reveals itself during the coming World Cup qualifying double-header.

Will Lambert keep the shirt or will Jermain Defoe – excellent player, good strike-rate for his country, but not currently in Tottenham’s first XI – get the nod ahead of him?

If England fans are confused by Hodgson’s logic, they are not alone.

[paul_e]

Savage is an idiot but the above article serves to prove that the saying about monkeys and typewriters is true, in that he is absolutely spot on.  The whole process of international selection for the English sides is rotten at the minute, as I've pointed out previously, we're there or there about at every age group and have been consistently for years, we have as good a record as any club for bringing young british talent through in the last 20-25 years (based on the number of premier league performances made by our academy graduates).  Given that why was there only 1 Villa player selected in the most recent squads for all Male teams.  That's 100-150 players called up and only 1 is from the club that has just won a european under 19 trophy.  I know we have a number of none english lads but even still I can't accept that we don't have 1-2 of the best 18-20 players in most age groups.

[Matt Collins]

Do we really though? I bet you (and I) would have said the same about four years ago. Which out of that crop of players has gone on to be international class? Albrighton? Bannan? Delfouneso? Herd? Clark? Hogg?

I think only Weimann and maybe, just maybe, Clark. And neither of them are English. We've just gone out and bought six 20-23 year old internationals precisely because the ones in our squad that we'd produced ourselves mostly aren't good enough, unfortunately.

We produce a lot of young players. And that's excellent. Many go on to have good top flight or lower tier careers. But we haven't replicated the success of Liverpool, Man U, Everton, Southampton or west ham in producing too many really top class players for a long time.

I'm not really sure why that is. It may be partly luck. It doesn't help when you let the likes of Cahill and Sturridge slip through your fingers. And who knows, perhaps dan Crowley could be another.

One other factor: I think Birmingham punches under its weight in terms of producing top class footballers. Think of the Geordie, scouse, Londoner, manc players over the years. Newcastle in particular has produced great players considering its small population (gazza, the charltons, Beardsley, waddle, cowans, etc).

Can't think of too many really West Midlands great players. Duncan Edwards of course. Perhaps stan and Gary Shaw could have been. There are others I'm sure but I can't think of too many.

[Dave]

I have nothing against Andros Townsend or Ross Barkley, who are both fine young players, but have they really done enough to warrant their call-ups into the squad for two World Cup qualifiers?

Last season, both went out on loan in the Championship – although Townsend went on to join QPR’s relegation battle in the Premier League – so their rise to the full England squad has been fairly meteoric.

But to me, these selections are more of a reflection on who they play for, rather than how good they are.

I think an argument can be made that some Man Utd players get picked just because they play for Man Utd, but Everton players picked just because they play for Everton?

Really?

[Clampy]

As much as I agree that Delph and Gabby deserved to be called up ahead of those who have, i'm actually glad that they haven't.

[adrenachrome]

As much as I agree that Delph and Gabby deserved to be called up ahead of those who have, i'm actually glad that they haven't.

All the Villa fans I know share those sentiments.

[paul_e]

Do we really though? I bet you (and I) would have said the same about four years ago. Which out of that crop of players has gone on to be international class? Albrighton? Bannan? Delfouneso? Herd? Clark? Hogg?

Well Cahill, Bannan, Weimann and Clark are all regularly selected for international squads (and a fair few others have caps) so we're clearly doing ok in getting kids through and into international squads (and that's just off the top of my head).

Aside from that, the point I was making is that selecting someone like Barkley on the back 2 league games is utterly pathetic, hence I used Albrighton as someone who came through and put in some superb performances in the first couple of months.  It takes a bit longer for someone to show if they genuinely have the ability to play at that level.  I still think England are rushing Wilshere through before he's ready and he's played better and a hell of a lot more regularly than the likes of Cleverley, Zaha, etc.

As much as I agree that Delph and Gabby deserved to be called up ahead of those who have, i'm actually glad that they haven't.

I'll never be glad when Villa players don't get called up, from the club perspective it might be better but if the player wants international recognition and deserves it then seeing a man utd reserve picked ahead of them can't be good.

[PaulWinch again]

Yes I think it's really important that our players know they can receive International recognition if they play for Villa. I appreciate there's the risk of tapping up, but at the same time it's as a big a risk to Villa if players feel they need to move to get selected by England. If our players perform they should be selected.