As Roy Hodgson this week, made his final decision and named his England Euro Qualifier squad to face Lithuania and Italy later this month should we be disappointed that one of our own has missed their calling? We can only trust in our international manager that he has made the right decisions in choosing the best talent to hopefully see us not only qualify with ease but possibly even work towards a European title.
I imagine most of us Palace fans were expecting, and keeping all fingers and toes crossed for our very own Scotty Dann to be given a Three Lions shirt this year. The talent he has shown this season surely deserves a chance at international level as a centre half. I for one am gutted for him with Dann missing out on a place to Gary Cahill, Phil Jagielka, Phil Jones and Chris Smalling.
Alan Pardew too feels our disappointment, saying: “Scott has his best years ahead of him and he can carry on improving. He is a good age and is coming into his prime age as a centre half and he has a lot of experience under his belt at this level – he needs to continue his form and continue to challenge for a place in the England squad in the near future.”
The Palace centre-back has been in impressive form since Alan Pardew’s arrival at the turn of the year. Dann scored twice in the new manager’s first game in charge and added to his tally at West Ham recently. His match consistency is spot on and he rarely makes mistakes, so what do we see, week in week out that Hodgson doesn’t?
Unfortunately it may all have come down to one slip up. The England’s coaching squad was at Selhurst Park to witness a mistake by Dann in December last year against Aston Villa. This error gifted Christian Benteke the winner and his misjudgement didn’t go un-noticed. Even after the game Dann himself said he was disappointed with his performance and that he knew he wouldn’t get an England call-up by giving away soft goals such as that. He vowed to improve – and that he did, but unfortunately it wasn’t enough this time round.
With all of that said I don’t think Dann should be that disheartened, the competition was always going to be fierce. Jones and Smalling can both play at full back and in midfield which gives them both an added edge. This, alongside the collaboration they have shown together on the pitch makes them a valued partnership. They have grown up together in the England U21’s and then became teammates at United – this surely will benefit the difficulty of having an international squad that gels over long periods of time.
Fear not…I am confident this won’t be the only time that Scott Dann will receive an opportunity. Once we have maintained our Premier League status and continue to move up the Premier League table, surely all of our players will see increased opportunities in the spotlight.
