Congratulations to Jordan Henderson on his England call up for the European Championships this summer. For reasons I can’t quite figure out this call up has been met with a lot of criticism when it really isn’t deserved. Henderson is captain of the England under 21’s and therefore is a logical choice for the promotion to the senior squad. He is a player who would almost certainly have started for Team GB in the Olympics and in accepting his call up to the senior squad he has effectively ruled himself out of contention for a place in the Olympics, swapping a one off opportunity to play in a winnable tournament that comes along once in a career for the chance to be part of the England senior set up in a prestigious tournament where the likelihood is that he probably won’t play, and if he does it will only be for five minutes here and there.
Roy Hodgson says discussions had already taken place with Michael Carrick and Paul Scholes who both chose to make themselves unavailable for selection for Euro 2012. Adding these two to the list of players selected I make Henderson to be Hodgson’s 9th choice central midfielder behind Gerrard, Lampard, Barry, Parker, Milner, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Jones, Scholes and Carrick. I don’t feel any criticism should be levelled at the England manager when he is selecting his 9th choice player for a position. And I think Jordan Henderson should be praised for his attitude.
Compare him to Michael Carrick, after losing the title in the last minute of the season Carrick should be desperate to get back on to the football field and chase success. He didn’t get selected as often as a player of his quality should have done under the previous manager and he now has a chance to impress a new boss and decided not to bother unless he was guaranteed a place in the starting eleven. Look at this in the context of club football and it is the equivalent of a player saying to his manager ‘either start me or leave me out of the squad completely, don’t even think about making me a sub’, and how long do you think any manager would tolerate that attitude for, especially Carrick’s manager at club level?
Jordan Henderson has had a difficult season after a high profile move to Liverpool where he was frequently played out of position in wide areas rather than in his preferred central role. He has had criticism from the media and fans for showing potential but not being a world beater yet. He now has a new club manager who he needs to impress. Many people in his situation would want to stay out of the spotlight after some of the press reports on his form this season, others would prefer a summer resting and preparing for next season so he can be in the best shape possible for working with his new manager. Not Jordan Henderson, he wants to play football and if England want him he’ll be there, ready to enjoy the experience and give 100% for the cause. I’m not saying for a minute that Henderson is capable of winning Euro 2012 for England singlehandedly, or that he’s anywhere near the finished article, but he is a young English central midfielder with potential and an impressive attitude and the media should be getting behind his call up and not complaining without offering any names of who should have been chosen instead.
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