In recent years, it’s seemed that you should only be playing for England if you were exciting. Players must have pace, flair and the ability to repeatedly score ‘wondergoals’. Otherwise, they weren’t deemed worthy of wearing the Three Lions badge on the international stage.
Ahead of the upcoming World Cup, Hodgson must decide which midfielders he takes to Brazil, and who gets left behind. The press are handing in their suggestions, with players new to the international scene such as Ross Barkley, Jack Wilshere and Adam Lallana, all being tipped for great things in South America.
All three have had great seasons, showing their ability to skip past defenders and turn to attack their opponents’ goal. But are other candidates being overlooked, purely down to having a ‘boring’ reputation? James Milner has been a useful utility player for Manchester City over the last four years. Able to play out wide or in the middle, the 27-year-old has committed to fighting against City’s star signings to get any sort of game time. While he has made 14 Premier League appearances this season, only five of them have been starts, with only two of his five Champions League appearances not to be from off the substitutes bench.
Milner comes under a lot of criticism on social network sites such as Twitter, often being the butt of jokes about his ability and his lack of ‘entertaining football’. But is the midfielder actually doing an undervalued, unnoticed job? The former Aston Villa midfielder has often come off the bench for star attackers such as David Silva or Samir Nasri, in an attempt to sure up City’s lead, and keep the midfield tight. Milner’s work rate means that he can go forward, while also making sure that his full-back is protected. But he also takes fewer risks. Instead of repeatedly attempting to trick his way past players, Milner’s ‘boring’ style of keeping possession and working teams down has ensured Manuel Pellegrini’s side are competing near the top of the Premier League, and have qualified from the Champions League group stage for the first time. The 27-year-old popped up at the right place to score City’s winner in their surprising comeback win at Bayern Munich last week, showing that he can still score important goals despite focusing more on defence than some of his team mates.
And he’s not the only English midfielder to take criticism despite strong performances. Gareth Barry has entered his last contracted season at Manchester City, and has spent it on loan at Everton, where he has converted many of his critics in just a few months. A ‘new’ Barry has appeared at Goodison Park, helping the Toffees to have the joint best defensive record in the league. Everton have kept 8 clean sheets, two before Barry made his move to Merseyside. The former Villa midfielder has played the full 90 minutes in the other six, playing a key role.
Barry’s happiness to sit back and defend the Everton back line has worked wonders for Robert Martinez. The Englishman has consistently stopped opposition counter attacks, broken up the play and in return fed fellow midfielder Ross Barkley, who has been on sensational form for the Toffees. Barkley has danced forward searching for goals, in the knowledge that Barry will sit back and protect Jagielka and Distin. This system for Martinez has led to the Blues sitting just 4 points off the top of the table, with only one loss on their record.
He was a hit at Everton from the first minute of his debut, being the star performer in Everton’s 1-0 win over Chelsea in September. The Englishman was a step ahead of the game, repeatedly intercepting the play and launching Everton on the front foot. His goal-line block from a Samuel Eto’o shot guaranteed the 3 points for Martinez, and Barry has been replicating these performances all season long.
Both Milner and Barry have been somewhat forgotten when it comes to England’s World Cup Squad. On the Daily Telegraph website, only Michael Own and Paul Hayward selected Milner, whilst Alan Smith, Alan Hansen and Henry Winter all left the pair at home for flair players such as Barkley, Ravel Morrison or Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain. But could they do a job for Hodgson? Both provide security and defensive balance. Whilst Walcott, Townsend, or whoever Hodgson starts, is attacking, Milner and Barry would be wary of the gaps left waiting to be exposed by Luis Suarez, Edinson Cavani or Mario Balotelli.
To bring either of the two might be an unpopular choice, especially considering the midfield options Hodgson has. There’s a long list of players that will be looking to get picked ahead of the two, and possibly rightly so. But there is still an argument to suggest that Barry and Milner shouldn’t be completely written off, especially after the 4 months they have had so far this season. While flair and attacking threat are exciting and entertaining, sometimes games can be won with security and defensive work rate.
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