Well, this one came out of the blue. Adam Forshaw has been a steady presence for Middlesbrough this season, but does he deserve an England cap?
When Gareth Southgate claimed he wasn’t ready for the top job in English football, we didn’t know just how right he was. Only now has his unsuitability finally been laid bare for all to see. Calling up an in-form, improving yet under-the-radar talent ahead of an underperforming household name? It’s enough to make Roy Hodgson spin in his erm, well, where actually is Roy?
The Telegraph’s report that Southgate was not camped out with a complementary espresso in the directors box of Old Trafford or Stamford Bridge, but indeed checking on the progress of Middlesbrough midfielder Adam Forshaw against Bournemouth last weekend, has certainly got the nation talking. And, for the most part, praising. After all, the decision to include a barely-fit Jack Wilshere ahead of Premier League champion Danny Drinkwater in England’s Euro 2016 squad still rankles.
While recent call-ups for Michail Antonio and Michael Keane have done some damage to the age-old argument that a players’ club is more important than his form, the introduction of former Wigan and Brentford enforcer Forshaw would prove, once and for all, that Southgate is not afraid of making shock decisions. His dropping of Wayne Rooney already hinted at a mental steel underpinning the ‘Mr Nice’ visage.
Southgate’s two games at the helm have yielded a steady yet typically dull win against Malta and a dismal stalemate in Slovenia, but bestowing an opportunity to a hard-working, industrious yet understated midfielder from one of the Premier League’s more modest clubs would prove once and for all that the 46-year-old is not simply a ductile FA drone. He has his own mind, and he’s not afraid to use it. And the fans appreciate that.
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