JAMIE VARDY is back in party mode, soaring ahead at the top of the Premier League goalscoring charts.
And Chris Smalling is experiencing an Italian renaissance at the age of 30, so impressive on loan at Roma that he has been dubbed ‘Smalldini’.
Jamie Vardy and Chris Smalling would give England much needed experience and nous at Euro 2020
So the question is: Are England good enough for Gareth Southgate to ignore either man as he looks towards the Euro 2020 finals?
Southgate’s seemingly inexorable trend towards promoting youth has left England looking short of experience and nous.
So does their manager have a reverse gear?
Leicester striker Vardy retired from international duty after the last World Cup, his reduced workload helping to reinvigorate the man who was the Premier League’s Player of the Season during the Foxes’ 2015-16 title success.
Now, under Brendan Rodgers, Vardy, 32, is even sharper than when Claudio Ranieri’s miracle men stormed the barricades four seasons ago.
So, should he continue in anything like this vein of form — 11 goals in his last eight and 16 Premier League strikes in all — surely Southgate must be tempted to enquire about a possible change of heart.
And might Vardy be tempted by one last England hurrah? Especially given his international career was so brief — lasting just three years.
Southgate was surprised and hacked off when Vardy quit, his striking options beyond Harry Kane having been very slim at the time.
The emergence of Tammy Abraham and the rebirth of Marcus Rashford have improved things.
Yet Vardy is a different option, an instinctive predator.
Southgate might be reluctant to call up a man who’d sat out all those tedious qualifying trips to Eastern Europe in place of a player who had remained loyal.
Yet while that argument has great moral clout, Southgate would be cutting off his hooter to spite his face if he did not ask the question.
There have been precedents — Fabio Capello persuaded Jamie Carragher to reverse his international retirement for the 2010 World Cup, while failing in a similar effort to twist the arm of Paul Scholes — who claimed he would have U-turned had the Italian asked earlier.
Smalling’s case, of course, is very different to Vardy’s — his England exile being very much of Southgate’s choosing.
But, having travelled to watch Smalling help Roma keep a clean sheet against Inter Milan on Friday, Southgate is proving true to his insistence that no door is permanently shut.
Smalling’s 2017 axe was one of Southgate’s most ruthless moves — alongside those to ditch Wayne Rooney, Joe Hart and Jack Wilshere.
The Manchester United man may never have been the biggest name — indeed his old club boss Louis van Gaal could never remember his name and frequently called him ‘Mike Smalling’ instead.
But he was a regular England starter for some time, winning 31 caps, and Southgate’s very public claim Smalling did not use the ball well enough to fit into his playing style, was a brutal call.
Surprisingly, there were even private doubts in the England camp about the player’s willingness to adapt.
Yet Smalling is an intelligent man and his successful switch to the Italian capital was the best way to prick up Southgate’s ears.
Southgate is impressed by Englishmen heading abroad, firmly believing learning a new footballing culture will invariably improve them.
He has swiftly backed others who have ventured overseas, giving a debut to Dortmund’s Jadon Sancho at 18 and recalling Kieran Trippier as soon as he enjoyed an impressive start with Atletico Madrid.
Now Smalldini is impressing the locals in a land where they pride themselves as world leaders in the art of miserly defending.
Does Southgate have enough decent centre-backs not to consider Smalling?
With John Stones struggling and Joe Gomez unable to nail down a starting place with Liverpool, there is no standout option to partner Harry Maguire.
Southgate has, quite rightly, won many admirers for his boldness in embracing youth.
Yet sometimes it can be every bit as brave to go back to the future.
Vardy retired from international duty after the last World CupCredit: Getty – Contributor
Southgate travelled to watch Smalling help Roma keep a clean sheet against Inter MilanCredit: Getty Images – Getty
POINT STANDS
RAHEEM STERLING’S outspoken intervention on tackling racism — both overt and subconscious — was a genuine game-changer after he suffered vile abuse from Chelsea fans a year ago.
It led to the kind of swift action taken by Manchester City in condemning their own supporter who appeared to make monkey chants at United midfielder Fred during Saturday’s derby at the Etihad.
Yet Sterling claimed that only points deductions would stamp out this kind of vile conduct.
It’s a harsh, but fair, question to ask whether he feels the same now one of his club’s own fans is in the dock?
BOB MY CHAMP
THEY say you should never meet your heroes.
But, as a kid who fell in love with sport when Bob Willis knocked over the Aussies after Ian Botham’s batting heroics at Headingley in 1981, I can testify Big Bad Bob was a major exception.
Lunch with Willis would include as much conversation about his own heroes, Bob Dylan and Bert Trautmann, as his beloved game of cricket and would also feature a fair few glugs of wine.
The old misery-guts routine he perfected on Sky Sports was just an entertaining facade.
As well as being one of England’s greatest bowlers, Willis, who died last week aged 70, was the warmest of men and simply wonderful company.
THE LEGENDS’ FIREWALL
IT’S no mere fad, more an enlightened strategy for self- preservation.
Duncan Ferguson’s immediate impact at Everton — and the prospect of a potential rocket from Big Dunc — would surely motivate any of us.
It follows Manchester United’s appointment of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Chelsea’s hiring of Frank Lampard. A club legend in the manager’s seat can prove an effective firewall for a club which is in transition or trouble.
Solskjaer finally looks as if he could be in it for the long haul at Old Trafford after wins over Tottenham and Manchester City.
Yet Lampard now faces a strange old problem.
This is exactly the scenario floated here a couple of months ago — a vibrant, young Chelsea side suffering a couple of defeats, putting their top-four place in peril just as the club’s transfer ban is lifted for January.
The Blues hierarchy will be tempted to revert to type and make a couple of expensive panic buys.
But for Lampard, the lifting of the ban could upset the equilibrium and ruin his unique selling point as a manager who has reconnected his club with its roots.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
