LEFT BACK OPTIONS FOR ENGLAND
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Lo and behold, sitting proudly in second, third and fifth place respectively are Aston Villa‚ÇÖs under-acclaimed Alan Wright, Chelsea‚ÇÖs Graeme Le Saux and Jamie Clapham of newly promoted Ipswich Town.
The connection? All are left-sided defenders and all are eligible for England. And to top even that - all are in great form for their clubs.
However, with Le Saux missing the last England match through injury, Wilkinson plumped for Villa‚ÇÖs Gareth Barry as a replacement, despite the fact that if ranked by the Opta Index, the youngster comes in a disappointing 43rd place out of 85 Premiership defenders.
And in the ensuing goalless draw in Finland, Barry showed signs of his frailties as an out-and-out left back. At Villa, the 19-year-old usually plays on the left side of a three-man central defence, but occasionally looked out of sorts for England.
Indeed, Barry completed just 44% of his passes against the Finns and only Emile Heskey recorded an inferior passing accuracy of the England starters. However, the Hastings-born defender compensated for some poor distribution by making seven tackles in his 70 minutes - more than any other player on the pitch.
So, how do we stand after a year of worrying about England‚ÇÖs left-sided problem? Le Saux has finally returned from injury for his club and country, impressing particularly in Chelsea‚ÇÖs 3-3 draw when he not only cleared Andy Cole‚ÇÖs effort of the line, but also set up Tore Andre Flo with a pin-point cross.
Wright has remained impressively consistent for Villa, finding himself in Opta‚ÇÖs last team of the week after an outstanding display against Derby when he helped himself to a spectacular strike. And Ipswich‚ÇÖs Clapham is the Premiership‚ÇÖs seventh-most accurate crosser of the ball with 13 wicked centres to his name already.
But whereas Le Saux, Wright and Clapham all feature in the top-5 of the Index, the other home nations‚ÇÖ representatives playing last week are not exactly setting the Premiership on fire.
Wales‚ÇÖ wing-back John Robinson ranks the highest in 17th place after some solid performances for the Addicks, Ian Harte of the Republic of Ireland comes in 29th and Northern Ireland‚ÇÖs Aaron Hughes sits in 40th position despite Newcastle‚ÇÖs promising start to the season.
So from a dearth of alternatives combined with a distinct lack of inventiveness from previous managers, it would appear that whoever rules over England next, at least has options on the left side of the defence. But, after recent performances in the World Cup qualifiers, this may transpire to be scant consolation for the nation.
