Sir Matt Busby once uttered the immortal line: “If they are good enough, they are old enough.” History has shown us that this generally appears to ring true throughout the annuls of football, none more so than on the international stage.
Think Michael Owen making a mug out of Roberto Ayala in 1998 or Wayne Rooney running riot during Euro 2004. Both were just 18 when they broke through on the grandest stages of them all. And as Roy Hodgson’s men travel to Poland today, oddly enough, there is another 18-year old with more than a hint of raw talent and explosive pace. He may not be as refined as Owen or Rooney were, but make no mistake about it, England must roll the dice and put their faith in Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain this month.
To regurgitate English football’s most fashionable buzzword this month, ‘expectation’ surrounding the national team, is at its lowest in recent memory. With the face paint, foam finger and cheap lager industries all set to face a miserable summer, there doesn’t even appear to be a blaze of failure to warm English hearts at Euro 2012. Roy Hodgson’s team looks set to be more rigid than Vincent Kompany’s jawline, eradicating the chance that we may see at least a few belting goals to soothe the pain of mediocrity.
But there are a lot more serious connotations around the use of ‘expectation’ in English football. Whilst we all ‘expect’ England to play rather boring and finish relatively poorly, we also expect our team to be full of players with big game, big tournament experience. In fact, one of the many murmurings coming out of the Rio Ferdinand debacle is that he offers ‘experience at a big tournament’. Let’s think about that for a moment.
Does the fact that because he has played at these tournaments before, mean he should start in front of players who have had superior seasons, such as Joleon Lescott and John Terry? In fact, he hasn’t played in a major tournament since 2006. How are any other players going to get this ‘experience’ if someone who has had an inferior season, is drafted in solely on their cap count? Phil Jones is the future, and he is now the like-for-like replacement at centre-half with Martin Kelly at right back. But his lack of ‘experience’ will be set against him if he makes a mistake, and Hodgson will be lampooned for leaving Ferdinand at home. Despite the fact that even if Ferdinand miraculously could play that many games so quickly, he is just as likely to cock-up on last season’s evidence.
Remember last time we valued ‘experience’ over youth? Let’s roll back two years to events in Rustenburg in 2010. Joe Hart was the best English goalkeeper of the 2009-10 season. Hart had impressed in all of his few outings in an England shirt and was superior to both James and Green all year. A certain Manuel Neuer only had two more caps than Joe Hart’s three as he started the 2010 World Cup as Germany’s number one. In fact, Thomas Muller only had two to his name. If we had as much faith in our youngsters as the Germans, what’s the worst that can happen? It’s not like it has served them too badly over the years.
And this is where Oxlade-Chamberlain comes in. Because, regardless of how raw his talent maybe, it is literally impossible to conceive that had the Arsenal youngster been born in Hamburg instead of Hampshire, he would face the prospect of being kept on the bench by a winger who finished the league season without a goal or assist to his name.
This isn’t an article set to bash the living daylights out of Stewart Downing; in fact, it’s quite the opposite. For a team that is going to be set up as pragmatic as Hodgson is looking to, the industry of someone like Downing will always be favored over the flair of Oxlade-Chamberlain. But Roy has to give leeway to attack somewhere. Oxlade-Chamberlain has the touch, technique and pace required to succeed at this level but most importantly, he isn’t scarred by past failure- he plays without fear. Of course the European Championships are amongst one of the toughest stages in world football. But starting in and then pulling the strings, in a Champions League last-16 tie, isn’t a million miles away either. In fact, his performance that day eclipses, both in the stature of event and footballing display, many of the midfielders in this England team.
Oxlade-Chamberlain might not quite be ready to make the sort of impact Owen and Rooney had at his age. But it took someone to take a punt on them in the first place, someone to start them and give them their chance to shine. Who knows what might happen if Oxlade-Chamberlain started against France and then caused complete chaos against the Gaelic defense? Confidence breeds success, no one is saying that by starting Oxlade-Chamberlain England are likely to win the thing, but we’ve seen before the effect that a fearless starlet can have on a team. He could galvanize the side.
You can only work with what tools you have got and no one should be criticizing Roy Hodgson for the approach he looks to be taking. But amongst the caution, rigidity and prudence, there has to be room for youth and unpredictability. Part of the problem with English football is the continuous rejection of change and just how stuck in old ways all parties are. As the Germans have shown, we shouldn’t be worried about their cap count or their date of birth. We should focus on whether they can cut the mustard to play good football- as the great Matt Busby once said. It wouldn’t quite be a tragedy, but if Oxlade-Chamberlain was to suffer the same fate as Theo Walcott did in 2006, Euro 2012 might serve true to the ‘expectations’ of all involved.
Think the Ox can have a big impact? Or will he fall victim to Hodgson’s pragmatism? Tell us what you think on Twitter, follow @samuel_antrobus
[ad_pod id=’unruly-2′ align=’left’]