Can we finally give Jonjo Shelvey an England chance?

Keep those emails coming to theeditor@football365.com…

Can someone please call Shelvey up for England?
I know I’ve said it before and I Don’t want to keep banging on about it but England are crying out for this deep lying playmaker but Shelvey still doesn’t get a look in. Apparently it’s because of his bad discipline but the last time he got booked was Jan 2018.

He has a range of passing that no other English midfielder has and he isn’t afraid to try things. England players have always looked too scared of making a mistake rather than playing with freedom.

Southgate has done well at changing that around and I love this young team. I just think the way Sterling and Lingard play on the half turn Shelvey can zip the ball into them between the lines better than anyone else we have. He’s still young enough to turn it around and I hope he has a good season again this year.
Chaz (essex)

Loftus-Cheek is average. Sorry
Let’s be honest here – Ruben Loftus-Cheek is bang average.

The kid is a myth and has been since he came up against a (half-arsed) Yaya Toure in a post-season friendly and generated lots of hype.

Sure he looked good for Palace on occasions, but truthfully, so did Jason Puncheon. It’s easy to “look good” if you’re at a club without a spotlight and everyone only focuses in once every six games.

What has he done for England? A backheel against Germany. That’s about it. And a new myth began after that Germany game, he was now the answer to England’s midfield problem.

His biggest failing is that he barely imposes himself on games. If he makes a good pass, he stands back and admires it. There’s no workrate, no determination, no thinking about the next phase of play, no desire to get involved and dictate the game – and unless he changes that, then he will never be good enough to play regularly for a top half side.

Daniel Storey is as wrong about Loftus-Cheek as whoever it was at F365 Towers who had the Lewis Holtby/Spurs hard-on.
Willy (W12)
(MC – In fairness, I said that I hoped he could be the answer, not that he definitely would be)

Heskey overcapped? No, no, no
I’m a Leicester City fans so obviously biased but Emile Heskey does not deserve to be on your England’s Overcapped XI list. He was never a goal scorer but was excellent at holding the ball, bullying defenders, creating space and openings for goal scorers which is why he got so many caps for England. Other strikers especially Michael Owen who was England’s top striker for a large part of both their international careers loved playing with Heskey so it was a no-brainer he amassed so many caps.

He’s certainly the best footballer on your list and actually won things at club level. England were also pretty rubbish for most of international career and that was hardly his fault so doesn’t deserve to be lumped in with Carlton Palmer and Kieran Richardson solely for his goal scoring record.

I’m not saying Heskey didn’t have some bad games for England (every player does) however I just feel opinions on Heskey should be revised as people need to focus on what he actually did well for England rather than what he didn’t do (score many goals) as that wasn’t why he was being selected anyway.
William, Leicester

Everyone’s happy
Eric Dier captaining England.

May the seas rise up and claim us all
JCNUFC

Dier has done nothing wrong, so leave out the hate
Scored the winner in Berlin in 2016. Scored the opener against Russia at the Euros. Scored the penalty that broke our national team’s seemingly incurable shootout curse. But apparently deserving of language like this and your accompanying tweet.

Show some respect, please. You might not rate him highly as a footballer but writing a disparaging couple of paragraphs on a guy you don’t know (Ian even writes ‘…we imagine his leadership style…’) is not what F365 should be about.

I get that this is a tongue-in-cheek site and long may that continue but this persistent and barely veiled disdain against an England player is off-putting.
Mark, Southwark

Zaha and the international conundrum
Anyway, I really wanted to reply to Paul regarding the international players and freedom of choose the country they represent. To me it always seems to boil down to the which country are better placed to offer glory, combined with which one will provide a path to personal glory. It sounds selfish, but I think even as individuals when applying for a job make the same decisions. Just looking at some of the players who represented France and most had a choice to play for and African side.

Take Wilfried Zaha, could have played for England, but his place was not guaranteed and he also faced tremendous competition from other rising stars for a spot on the plane with England. Ivory Coast offered a way out, where he is guaranteed a starting spot and is one of the leaders and most experienced members of the squad. Ivory Coast also have a decent history of qualifying for the world cup and are a dominant African side. You can easily see how he chose to play for Ivory Coast.

Thibaut Courtois, is also a case that we can sort of see how it transpired along the same lines. His life seems to have been highly influenced by Spain more than Belgium. But when coming up, had Casillas and De Gea was already muted to be next in line. De Gea was also considered the better keeper, so you can sort of see how he chose Belgium.

Not a bad problem to have really. Courtois could have chosen Spain, had to wait out De Gea, who is just 2 years his senior or take the number 1 position for a decent up and coming team. Easy choice.
Dave, Somewhere

The kids are better than you
Can we all collectively as a society stop pretending we care about the children? We fund education so it’s nothing more than free daycare, we spend as though we’re the last generation on earth, we on my side of the pond care about our guns more than our kids, and the list goes on. Now gambling?

I suppose saying you are worried about the kids is easier than looking in the mirror as an adult and recognising you have serious problems that at detrimental to society as a whole. So just stop about the kids, they are doing far better than you are.
Niall, Denver