4. A Chance For New Players
The question of when and where to give a cap to a new player comes up time and time again, do you do it in a friendly? Which has no real sense of pressure and therefore does not mirror the true international experience, or do you do it in a qualifier for a tournament? Throwing them straight in at the deep end and possibly risking the result. With all due respect to the other three teams this is more of a problem for England because of the wider selection of quality players available to them, as soon as a player like Aaron Ramsey or Jonny Evans pops up they will go straight into there national sides because they are far better than any else in the squad. This question was brought up again recently when Wilfred Zaha made his debut and I think it is fair to say we still don't have an answer. I would hope the use of new players woud not be taken to an extreme extent, after all the idea is to have competetive games not glorified reserve fixtures. This would be the perfect opputunity to try theses players the perfect time for younger players to make the step up. Rather than giving Zaha and Raheem Sterling their debuts in a friendly with Sweden, why not let them play in a fixture that the fans will care about? The Home Internationals would be a testing ground for debutantes, they will be playing in a tournament atmosphere, their first game for their country will be a derby against one of the nations biggest rivals. It is the best of both worlds, the chance to play in a series of fixtures that will be taken seriously but without the added pressure of competing in one of the major tournaments. Do you think Rickie Lambert or Grant Holt have grafted their way to the Premier League and deserve a chance? Or that Tom Ince and Daniel Sturridge are the future of the team? This would be the chance for them to prove it.