Redknapp laments England quality; why no Barkley?

Matt Stead

Jamie Redknapp believes England lack true quality in midfield and cannot believe why Ross Barkley isn’t in the squad.

The Sky Sports pundit was speaking after watching the 2-2 draw against Scotland in Glasgow as the Three Lions grabbed a stoppage-time equaliser thanks to captain Harry Kane.

West Brom enforcer Jake Livermore made his first competitive start alongside Eric Dier in central midfield, while Dele Alli played in an advanced role.

Redknapp, however, felt that the system did not work and that Barkley will probably have been frustrated to have missed out on a call-up from Gareth Southgate.

“There’s not a lot of quality,” the former England midfielder said.

“I thought Jake Livermore did OK. Southgate was trying to emulate what Tottenham do when they go with Victor Wanyama and Dier, but there were times when they didn’t need the two of them there and that was the frustration.

“We haven’t got that pool of players, there’s not many in midfield. Maybe I look at Ross Barkley, who must be at home thinking ‘surely I can get in that squad or maybe in that team?’

“Obviously he plays where Dele Alli plays and Alli is a better player, but he should be in that squad with his quality.

“He needs to find a way of getting himself right next year because we haven’t got that many midfield players that can come in and make that difference, real quality footballers.”

England came mighty close to suffering their defeat in 35 qualifiers, after Leigh Griffiths scored two late free-kicks, and Redknapp still believes that the country’s top players are not producing their club form at international level.

“England didn’t do enough,” he added. “We didn’t play well enough, we didn’t manage the game and I can’t remember too many times when we had any consistent time on the ball.

“We never looked comfortable and that’s credit to Scotland, but as I said before the game when players play for their country I see different players than play for their clubs.

“We have great qualifying campaigns, but when we get to major tournaments when it really matters, we’ve won five out of 15 games. That’s not good enough.

“That’s what Gareth has to somehow do, he has to unlock how players play for their clubs and find a way of making them play like that for their country.

“They just don’t. They look like a shadow of themselves.”