England manager Gareth Southgate is right to leave out Marcus Rashford and pick players based on form

I ACTUALLY think it is a good thing Marcus Rashford was dropped from the England squad.

If we get into a position where people are getting picked just because of their name, that isn’t right. It is the same with Jadon Sancho.

We had a frustrating spell with that as England fans during the Sven- Goran Eriksson era, the same people getting picked every time.

Don’t get me wrong, they were all good players, but do we not want a team that is based on performance and what they are offering? That’s what I thought it was all about.

As a result, there will be some other players who are now in Gareth Southgate’s squad who haven’t played as well, looking over their shoulder, thinking: “I need to step up or I’ll get dropped, too.”

It is going to cause a shake-up for the better.

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Someone like Emile Smith Rowe hasn’t played an awful lot for Arsenal recently, and he will see someone like Rashford being dropped and think he needs to prove himself otherwise he won’t be called up again.

The biggest thing is that no one is too big to be dropped by England. That’s how it should always be.

We have a fantastic squad and others who are working really hard to get in.

For example, Aston Villa’s Ollie Watkins, who must be thinking he isn’t too far away. Brentford’s Ivan Toney is in that category, too.

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Just because Rashford and Sancho play for Manchester United doesn’t mean they have the right to play for England.

You have others pushing and it is a wake-up call to the rest of them who may take it for granted.

There are a lot of young, hungry players out there.

Rashford may look at those attacking options – the likes of Phil Foden, Harry Kane, Jack Grealish, Bukayo Saka, Raheem Sterling – and think: “How do I get back in?”

But as a footballer and an athlete you don’t do that. We say to ourselves: “When I’m at my best, I am better than him,” irrelevant of what Joe Bloggs on the street thinks.

There is a lot of discussion over centre-back Harry Maguire. Right now, I would argue who goes in ahead of him?

Maguire is in a better situation than Marcus because we don’t have any real stand-out candidates.

If there were a few other centre-back options, Maguire would be under pressure, too.

‘Lucky’ is the wrong word but he is fortunate to be picked.

For me, Maguire is growing up in front of our eyes. He is shouldering more responsibility and taking a kicking by United fans, but I can see him maturing now.

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Another position that is up for grabs is in goal.

I like Jordan Pickford. I like that arrogance, he is who he is. Aaron Ramsdale is having a great season, but even he has been criticised recently.

No matter what, with any of these players, class is permanent.

You can go through dips in form and mentally disengage, but class is class.

If they want to engage, they will get that back. You need that spark. It comes from within.

We do tend to get carried away with the naming of one squad, especially one so far away from November’s World Cup, but Southgate needs to experiment. Have a little go with different names.

We know the likes of Kane will go and start, so why not see how striker Tammy Abraham delivers after playing so well for Roma?

Whatever Southgate goes with, there are a lot of variables. And it is really exciting.

Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk