England: Rodwell and McCarthy indicate lean times

"Rodwell's inclusion does ring a few alarm bells about the current state of the England national team as the Man City man is not a direct replacement for anyone, he now just makes up the last member of a 23-man party."

Ahead of England's upcoming friendly double-header with Ireland and Brazil, Christian Crowther discusses the merits or otherwise of the Three Lions squad...

Jack Rodwell has shown promise throughout his fledgling career, attracting many admirers while at Everton. In fact, the disposed champions of England, Manchester City, were so taken with the then 21-year-old midfielder that they spent £15 million of their finest sterling on him last summer.

Rodwell is a good player, but one who has already been badly afflicted with recurring injury problems at a tender age, restricting him to a meagre 15 appearances at the Etihad Stadium this season.

Now, after a further two-month period on the sidelines, he reminded everyone he is actually still playing by bagging a Premier League brace in the dead rubber against Norwich and has amazingly walked straight into the England squad. 

Rodwell's inclusion does ring a few alarm bells about the current state of the England national team as the Man City man is not a direct replacement for anyone, he now just makes up the last member of a 23-man party.

The official line is that he's been brought along by Roy Hodgson to cover potential injury problems for Tom Cleverley of Manchester United, one of only six officially recognised midfielders. Such a statement exposes the obvious deficiencies in midfield, something replicated in defence as well.

Cleverley is not even a regular starter for the champions, neither is Alex Oxlade Chamberlain at Arsenal, leaving only Michael Carrick and James Milner as regular Premier League starters, with evergreen Frank Lampard making up the numbers. Admittedly, Steven Gerrard and Jack Wilshere are injured but this is not a midfield brimming with world class talent. 

The forwards situation is a deal rosier, with many good and contrasting options from Andy Carroll through to Wayne Rooney and the likes of Daniel Sturridge for a pacier choice. Similarly, the full-back berths are well covered at present with four really strong options from top clubs in Ashley Cole, Leighton Baines, Glen Johnson and Kyle Walker.

However, in central defence and in the goalkeeping position there is another dearth. Due to John Terry and Rio Ferdinand's latest states of international dormancy, Joleon Lescott, a bit-part player at City, becomes the most experienced of the four players who could operate in a partnership on 26 caps.

Phil Jones' utility is applaudable, though he seldom starts games for the champions at centre-back, leaving Phil Jagielka and Gary Cahill.

On a parallel with the Rodwell call-up, it's surprising to see Reading keeper Alex McCarthy get a call-up after such a short time in the spotlight at the Madejski. With the Royals heading to the Championship, it begs the question whether there are enough good English keepers emerging at the top level?

Despite lying second to Montenegro in Group H, Hodgson's side are still the 1.68/13 favourites to win it.

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Premier League News: Wolves axe McCarthy after derby loss

Premier League / Michael Lintorn / 13 February 2012 / Leave a Comment

Mick McCarthy paid the price for a 5-1 Black Country derby defeat

"Whoever inherits the role has far from an impossible task leading them to safety, with only goal difference following the severity of Sunday’s reverse putting them below QPR and Blackburn in 18th."

Steve Bruce is being linked with a speedy return to management after Wolves decided to sack Mick McCarthy in the aftermath of their 5-1 home hammering against neighbours West Brom...

He led them to promotion and then guided them to survival twice, but Wolves' heavy home defeat to rivals West Brom saw the strugglers finally lose faith with Mick McCarthy, prompting his dismissal on Monday morning.

Steve Bruce is the early frontrunner at [4.0] in Betfair's next manager market, with Neil Warnock and Alan Curbishley also featuring prominently.

Whoever inherits the role faces far from an impossible task leading them to safety, with only goal difference following the severity of Sunday's reverse putting them below QPR and Blackburn in 18th, and just four of the top seven left to play, three of those at Molineux. They are [1.77] to go down.

Given that McCarthy has kept Wolves up from more worrying positions in the past, it is arguable that the inflictors of Sunday's humiliation rather than the impact that it will have on their chances of beating the drop is the reason that he lost his job.

It definitely doesn't appear as though he has been axed because there is someone infinitely better currently out of work, as the names currently being mentioned indicate.

Of Bruce, Warnock and Curbishley, this writer would probably plump for the latter, who hasn't been relegated this century, has achieved more top-half Premier League finishes than the other two combined and has no track record for failure.

The question that Wolves will be asking however is how significant it is that the former Charlton and West Ham boss hasn't been employed for close to three-and-a-half years, and whether it would be too big a gamble to hire someone who has been out of work for so long.

Meanwhile, those who love a long shot can find odds of [100.0] on McCarthy succeeding Fabio Capello as England manager, but surely proud Irishman that he is, he wouldn't consider the gig even in the unlikely event that he was offered it...

When football should have been the main talking point, it was an incident at Old Trafford that made the headlines. Ralph Ellis explains why saying sorry, in most instances, doesn't usually work....

There were huge prizes up for grabs on Betfair if you correctly called the scorelines of the games involving Tottenham, Norwich, Everton, Brighton and Barcelona......

City won at Villa Park as Wolves were humilated at home by West Brom, a game that proved to be Mick McCarthy's last in charge......

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