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Bench Kyle & Bring On Kyle

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Good afternoon.

The excellent PhysioRoom.com has Kyle Naughton due back on the 20th of this month.The reason I share this piece of fascinating piece of information is that it might prove to be of sudden relevance dependent upon what happens when England play Poland tonight.

From today’s Mirror:

Hodgson has taken Walker to Poland, despite him having a scan on his calf. The Spurs star missed training here on Monday and is unlikely to be involved against Poland. Hodgson added: “Walker has a very slight calf strain. He’s got a tender spot.”

With the Chelsea game looming it is of course another reason to make a reticent grunting noise when asked if you know the England game is on tonight. 

Taking Walker to Poland like this really is putting club before country and makes you wonder what communication system is in place between the player’s employers and the FA when it comes to situations such as this?

Thinking ahead – as the boy clearly needs to achieve match fitness and so it might be ambitious to suggest him for this weekend – but is it time to see if Naughton can do a job at right back in place of Walker?

The boss knows best he is the guy who makes the assessments in training. But if Naughton were showing some positive signs then it would be interesting to see what he might offer defensively.

I’ve been banging my ‘lack of confidence’ drum about Walker for some time. As I’ve said on the podcast, this ‘he’s good going forward’ line is largely an urban myth. He doesn’t really achieve much with his runs and as a defender all I see is him getting skinned endlessly. As an athlete he’s great, but is he anywhere near as good defensively? I think the answer is a firm ‘no.’

ODM tells me, ‘You don’t like him!’ which implies there’s something personal or irrational in my critique. This isn’t the case. Any issues with players positive or negative stem solely from their game play. Walker’s a defender who doesn’t do that job very well and his attacking play is hit and miss. 

What’s after the Blue Racists? The Bubbles Part2 then a trip to Southampton. Perfect. I’d like to see Kyle Naughton given a go for that one.

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132 comments

  • Boy Charioteer says:

    That was nasty at Krusevac last night. Where was the protection for our players? KICK THEM OUT of competitions for f*****g years.

  • Gibbo says:

    Walker needs game time to get confidence…. Naughton needs game time to prove his ability….. Bae needs game time to get back his match fitness hopefully by Christmas they will all have played enough to be pushing each other to new heights. They are all top footballers

  • Gibbo says:

    Completely off story after this nonsense in Serbia seeing some very ugly scenes.
    I believe the players should set the bans for racism on a pitch. Send out a letter to all English footballers what they think should be the band everything from a fine to being banned from the game for good. This could be implemented in the English game immediately, then hopefully FIFA would take note. I also believe Serbia should be banned from playing football for 5 years

    • Mitchell Thomas says:

      They won’t though. 16K fine in 2007. It’ll be a fine with some more zeroes and, at worse, play a couple of games behind closed doors.

    • UnkleKev says:

      I’ve not seen the best quality footage of the incident but Danny Rose looked very upset as he trudged off. I don’t think the red card even registered with him.

      http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/19975032

    • Boy Charioteer says:

      Danny’s red card must be rescinded at once and if the gutless FA don’t live up to their name of sweet fa by demanding a substantial ban for these clones of John Terry we should all kick up a fuss.

      • Mitchell Thomas says:

        Whilst a player can certainly be red carded after a game has finished, kicking a ball away is a Yellow Card offence and, in these circumstances, a little common sense wouldn’t have gone amiss. What the ref was thinking i don’t know.

        You could see the players getting showered AND hit by objects from the crowd when Wickham scored the winner and also on occasion when our players were taking throw ins.

        All in all a rum old do and hopefully any travelling fans are back in one piece. Serbia really does seem to be the European equivalent of Burnley away doesn’t it. Morons.

        • Boy Charioteer says:

          I remember Burnley in the 60’s. Some fans wore leather jackets and appeared to model themselves on American Hells Angels. Without the Harley-Davidsons though.

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