Sam Allardyce raised plenty of eyebrows with the omission of Everton’s Ross Barkley from his first squad as England manager.
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Allardyce, 61, named a 23-man squad for England’s 2018 World Cup qualifier against Slovakia as he prepares his squad for his first game in charge.
The former Sunderland, West Ham, Newcastle, Blackburn and Bolton manager surprised many with the inclusion of West Ham’s winger Michail Antonio, and in a press conference on Monday he also confirmed he would name his England captain on Tuesday.
He also spoke about his decision to leave Barkley out.
“We’ve had to make some very, very difficult decisions. None more so than Ross Barkley. It’s disappointing for him,” Allardyce said. “The door will always be open for Ross but at this moment I think the squad I’ve named is right.”
Of course this is the right approach to take from Allardyce when it comes to dropping Barkley from the squad. He is still only 22-years-old and has considerable experience in the PL and with England at two major tournaments, even though he didn’t lay a single second at EURO 2016, he will get another chance. Allardyce would be foolish to complete cast the Everton playmaker aside and he knows it.
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Barkley’s confidence may have been impacted by not being used by Roy Hodgson this summer but there is Wayne Rooney, Adam Lallana and Dele Alli to compete with in that central attacking area.
Ronald Koeman has given Barkley a central role for the Toffees since taking charge and it is now down to the Liverpool born playmaker to become more productive in the final third and turn his undoubted potential into goals, assists and become the main man at Goodison Park. He has all the tools to succeed but maybe this snub will help Barkley refocus and go back to basics as he tries to impress Big Sam.
