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Michael Starr

How refreshing to see home based players

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Norwich''s starting 11 at Liverpool contained 10 English players and an Irishmen. It''s likely we''ll see an England call-up for at least one of our players before the seasons out. It''s really refreshing to see home grown players in the Premiership.

I read somewhere that we''ve only ever had 7 players play for England whilst at Norwich, currently 2 are being linked with the next squad call-up.

Are we attracting better English players now? Has our national team quality dipped? Perhaps the old argument that foreign players force the English players down a level from the big 4 to other Prem clubs is true.

If Ruddy / Johnson were around at the beginning of the Premiership 92/93 era would they have been close to the England squad back then? Would they be playing for one of the big 4? I don''t think they would have. So what''s changed?

Just a few months ago David James was our number 1, now he''s being panned by everybody at a poor Bristol City side who look destined to go down into League 1. A small part of me hopes Ruddy / Johnson do not get called up. Mainly because the English mentality is to knock players who fall short of ridiculous expectation. We all saw the damage it did to Paul Robinson, a once very good goalkeeper. However, there is a sense of huge pride seeing a Norwich player in amongst the "best" England has to offer.

I''m happy for Norwich that these guys are close to a call up, but saddened in a way as an England supporter. 12 months ago these guys wouldn''t have come close to a call-up. 8 games into the Premiership season and they''re being looked at. Worrying for England.

England call-ups for Ruddy / Johnson, ultimately good or bad?

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I wouldn''t read too much into the Johnson/England thing. He was in the ''provisional squad'' which is just a list of 40 players who could be called up to England (this is required so that players know there is a potential call up and don''t take a holiday or make plans etc). I doubt Johnson will make a full squad this season, but being included on the list goes to show that England are still lacking a decent defensive midfielder (Barry and Parker are okay in this position, but it isn''t the natural position for either of them).

 

There is an obvious lack of English keepers at the moment, but this is just one of those things that many countries go through now and again. Many of the big European teams have lacked for a keeper at times - Germany had no one to replace Oliver Kahn after he retired and France have struggled for a while. Ironically England will probably have 3 top quality keepers in a couple of years.

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Firstly, we should acknowledge that despite Morison, Crofts and Martin being Londoners, they are now either Welsh or Scottish in football terms.

Anyway, I think Ruddy fully deserves a call up. I''d be shocked if after the last few games, Capello rates two championship keepers being better than him. After Joe Hart, theres no one who stands out as being a shoe in for the squad. Barring a Ruddy howler in the next 2 games, he will surely get the call up.

As for Johnson, whilst I rate him highly, and has been a huge player for us this season, I can''t see him making much impact on the England squad. Saying that before the season started I wasn''t sure of Johnson when he was at Leeds but he proved me wrong, so he could do again with England.

Regarding little Wes, it''s a crime he cannot get in the Ireland squad.

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[quote user="UEA Canary"] Regarding little Wes, it''s a crime he cannot get in the Ireland squad.[/quote]

Might be wrong but isn''t Wes currently the highest placed Irishman in terms of the league position of his club team?

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