Club before country?

No, not the traditional argument but more from a selection point of view. Today, call ups were made to the England squad with Sturridge and Walcott dropping out. In their place, Adam Lallana, Jake Livermore and Raheem Sterling have been called up.

Now, I have no problem with any of these players. All have allot of potential, especially Livermore, who I think looks a very good prospect and could be in the holding midfield position for club and country in the very near future. However, Its Lallana and Sterling's inclusions I find baffling due to them being included ahead of one man, Nathan Dyer of Swansea.

As we know, Swansea have had many plaudits (quite rightly) since becoming the first Welsh team to gain promotion to the PL. They had a superb debut season and have started spectacularly this season. Despite Scott Sinclair getting a move to PL champions Man City, it is widely regarded by Swans fans and many other fans, that Nathan Dyer has been the stand out attacker in the last season and this season so far.

At 24, he is still young and has a season of PL football under his belt and has shown he is not out of his depth. This season, he has been superb and his performances have been one of the main reasons Swansea have done so well.

Yet Sterling, at just 17, with just a couple of good PL games under his belt, has been called up ahead of Dyer. Now, Sterling has done well in those 2 gam,es for Liverpool so far, yet that's all it has been, 2 games. Dyer has earned a spot in the England side and is far better than a number of players in the side atm (Milner, Downing etc..).

So I ask, if Dyer had been playing for Liverpool/Ever or any top 6 side, would ha have been included by now. Unfortunately, the fact his bio says Nathan Dyer-Swansea City I believe hinders his chances of a call up and for me one of the main rreason why Scott Sinclair wanted to move to Man City.

Well Adam Lallana is playing for Southampton so it's not everything.

I think the fact that he plays for Swansea doesn't help, but Sterling is only going to be training with the squad this time out, so it's not like he's being chosen to start ahead of Dyer.

Apparently Sterling has been brought up to stop him choosing to play or Jamaica, you always have to remember he has clubmates (Johnson and Gerrard) already in the squad while there are no other Swansea teammates for Dyer to work with.

Crimey wrote:Well Adam Lallana is playing for Southampton so it's not everything.

I think the fact that he plays for Swansea doesn't help, but Sterling is only going to be training with the squad this time out, so it's not like he's being chosen to start ahead of Dyer.

Apparently Sterling has been brought up to stop him choosing to play or Jamaica, you always have to remember he has clubmates (Johnson and Gerrard) already in the squad while there are no other Swansea teammates for Dyer to work with.

I would suggest that Southampton is a bigger name than Swansea, in my view anyway. Perhaps if Swans can establish themselves as a PL club in the next year or so that may change.

I understand they've been brought into train only, but still why not Dyer, he's just 24, not allot older than the ones called up (apart from Sterling). I still think he should be in there anyway, he's a genuine out and out winger who has a final ball to his game, although unfortunately his stats last year don't reflect the quality of his crossing/final ball. Put a quality striker (Graham is decent but not high level) on the end of his deliveries and he would have allot more assists to his name.

There is no real advantage in bringing Dyer in for the few days of training though, the main advantage of calling up Sterling is so that he knows that England want him so he won't go and accept a call up from Jamaica.

Fair enough if Sterling was being called up to play in the first XI over Dyer then there is grounds for complaint.

I agree, obviously they have no real chance of playing. I just wish that, not just Swansea, but anyone that just because your club isn't one of the big boys or as well known, they aren't overlooked due to who they play for.

Look at Crouch or Holt. For me, they should have gone to the Euro's ahead of Carroll as they for me, were in the better form and offered more than Carroll did at the time. Yet they play for Stoke and Norwich rather than Liverpool.

If a player is good enough, he should be selected imo. It seems with England, they look to the big clubs rather than recognising the talent on show at smaller clubs. Like Walcott shouldn't be ahead of Dyer for instance, but playing for Arsenal is a big factor for his selection atm anyway.

But I agree crimey with your point about the training but I don't think Sterling would seriously consider playing for Jamaica over England?

I think he would if he believed he wasn't going to get a chance in the England squad.

Crimey wrote:I think he would if he believed he wasn't going to get a chance in the England squad.

But he's a year younger than me and you, surely you can't think your going to hold down a place in the England side after just 2 games for Liverpool this season.

Liam wrote:

Crimey wrote:I think he would if he believed he wasn't going to get a chance in the England squad.

But he's a year younger than me and you, surely you can't think your going to hold down a place in the England side after just 2 games for Liverpool this season.

I know what you mean, but the temptation to accept an international call up must be huge. Imagine the regret he'd feel if he turned down the chance to play for Jamaica and the England call never came, and he just kept waiting for the England call.

But then that's what you have advisors etc for. Fact is at 17, he has another 15 years + to look forward to. England have allot of older players and will soon be looking to the future. After Rio, He'll be just 19. If he has a couple of seasons under his belt at Liverpool, i'm sure he'll be knocking on the door, maybe even before then if he continues his impressive perfoances. He'd be MAD to chose Jamaica at just 17 thinking 'i'll never get an England call up'.

So far this season (and the latter part of last season), Dyer has been the stand out English player.