Wharton vs Henderson debate ended by Hoddle as Crystal Palace win Conference League
It’s the 80th minute of England’s last group game at the World Cup and the Three Lions are in desperate need of a creative spark in search of a goal against Panama which will see them through to the Round of 32.
Thomas Tuchel turns to his bench and sees the haggard face of a moral vacuum staring back at him and curses the decision he made little more than a month ago to pick a team cheerleader at least five years past his prime over a dynamic, hugely talented young midfielder who excels in playing forward passes, breaking lines and opening up opposition teams.
Still, at least a bibbed-up Jordan Henderson will be able to use all of his experience to pick distraught England players off the floor having played no minutes in three games upon their embarrassing exit from the tournament while Adam Wharton shakes his head and orders another Pina Colada from the beach bar at his five star resort.
We’re all Glenn Hoddle after watching Crystal Palace win an actual, genuine European trophy, just a year on from beating Manchester City to claim their first-ever major gong.
Sculptors will be preparing quotes for Oliver Glasner statues, Jean-Philippe Mateta’s name will now be being chanted by Palace fans in Leipzig bars after he was booed off at Selhurst Park in January after failing to force through a move to AC Milan. But this game, like so many others for Palace in the last two seasons, was Wharton’s.
And just before half-time Wharton clipped a cross from the right edge of the box for Tyrick Mitchell, who got the timing of his header inside the six-yard box all wrong and sent the ball wide of the post.
They were both excellent examples of the vision and quality delivery that sets Wharton apart from almost all Premier League players operating in his position. Declan Rice and Elliot Anderson will start for England this summer and deserve to, but as a ‘finisher’ – someone to come on and change a game – it’s hard to think of a superior option to Wharton, who played the key role to secure victory and the Conference League title in the second half.
He drove forward from deep and struck a stinging shot which the Rayo goalkeeper could only palm into the path of Mateta, who fumbled the ball in on the rebound.
While we understand Tuchel’s presumed reservations over the 22-year-old’s ability to ‘get around the pitch’, that’s a) far less likely to be an issue for England compared to Palace as the Three Lions are likely to control possession far more readily, particularly in the early games this summer, and b) a nonsensical reason to select 35-year-old Henderson ahead of him.
Henderson’s in for his experience and leadership. “He is a serial winner, his personality and character. He is the glue in every team that he has played, the glue that makes things special,” Tuchel said in March.
We’re not minimising the importance of that role, but Hoddle has a solution.
“I understand why the manager has taken Jordan Henderson, but for me, if he’s going to do that type of job, take him as a coach,” said a man who knows a thing or two about the value of creativity in midfield that Wharton has in abundance and England will definitely need at some point this summer.
A brilliant night for Crystal Palace but also a possible harbinger of some bad ones for England fans in the not-too-distant future.
