da 888casino： With England manager Fabio Capello facing quite the conundrum about the right back slot still going into the World Cup, surely keeping Man City’s Nedum Onouha around, for no other reason than to keep him from the clutches of his native Nigeria would represent a smart move tactically, if not for the present, then for the future.
da betcris： The 23 year old right back has shown some decent form in recent weeks and looks to have usurped Micah Richards as the most promising young defender at Eastlands. The options at present are pretty thin on the ground when it comes to the right back slot and every candidate has a glaring weakness in their game.
The frontrunner for the spot is Liverpool right back Glen Johnson, who whilst a fine player doesn’t look like a right back to me but a right midfielder. He’d be great on the continent where they encourage full backs to power forward and some clubs even give them a whole flank to themselves to roam, safe in the knowledge that the midfield will cover them, I’m thinking of Ramos at Real, Maicon at Inter and Dani Alves at Barca here, but Johnson is worryingly weak defensively, and at times, the cover just simply isn’t there.
Surprisingly for someone so quick, he’s really quite awful when faced with pace to match his own and he lacks the positional sense to be trusted against the best. He could potentially prove a liability the further England get in the tournament.
Gary Neville has shown some promising form in recent weeks but was absolutely murdered against Bayern in the first leg of their Champions League encounter and also by Florent Malouda in what could turn yet turn out to be the title decider a fortnight ago.
He still puts people on their arse with aplomb and he did put in a good shift against Blackburn this weekend, but at 35 years old, it can hardly be seen as planning for the future. Putting him in the squad, for all the virtues his experience will bring, lacks sense when faced up against his deficiencies to play two games at a high level a week, something that will be required at a World Cup, and his best days look behind him, for the consistent level of his performances above all else.
Wes Brown looks certain to make the squad, and his versatility to cover all across the back four is a useful thing to have around. Although he’s a safe pair of hands defensively, he’s extremely injury prone and offers little going forward up the wing.
I’m not advocating that Onouha should be on the plane for the World Cup, far from it, but at 23 years old, and playing for a club that look the favourites to be playing Champions League football next season in Man City, he looks to be a talent not worth letting go of.
He’s captained the England under-21s before and its coach now Stuart Pearce is known to be an admirer from their time at City together where he gave the young Onouha his debut. For the under 21s he was an integral part of the side that had such a great run in the Euro’s all the way to the semi-final before losing on penalties to Holland 13-12 and by awarding him with a call-up, it would go some way at least to reinforcing the link between the Under 21s and the first team and back up the thought process that good form for your club will be rewarded in-house by the FA.
With quality right backs, and full backs for that matter hardly growing on trees at the moment on our fair shores, it makes sense to give the national side more options by giving him a cap. Facing Mexico in the friendly at Wembley on May 24th would deprive him the chance of playing for Nigeria at the World Cup, but in all likelihood he’d just be a squad player for them, and he’s expressed his desire before that he’d rather play for his adopted country than his native one and that Nigeria remains his fall back option.
Onouha does have potential, whether he’ll build on that remains to be seen, but he has the raw ingredients to have a lasting career at the top, he’s quick, good in the air and as strong as a bull and it would seem a shame to let him go so easily simply because he doesn’t think he’s in contention.
He hasn’t played a great deal for City this term, only 15 appearances in total across all competitions, and if there were any other young right backs coming through right now there probably wouldn’t be an argument for keeping him, but there isn’t and there is.
A place on the bench against Mexico would not only be reward for his good form, but it would also give the next England manager more choice for the future in terms of selection, and in that respect it certainly does make a lot of sense, something our favourite Italian prides himself on.
Written By James McManus