Lessons from Allardyce’s squad

Sam Allardyce has named the first England squad of his reign – but what does it tell us about his plans for the national team?

The 23-man squad will take on Slovakia in a 2018 World Cup qualifier in Trnava on September 4.

Here we take a look at what we learnt from his selection…

Antonio gets his chance

Michail Antonio scored against Manchester City on Sunday and the West Ham wide player was celebrating again later that evening following news he’d been called up to the England senior squad for the first time. The 26-year-old Londoner revealed in March he had rejected an opportunity to play for Jamaica so he could pursue his aim of playing for England and that decision has been justified with this call-up.

The winger has enjoyed a rapid rise since signing for West Ham in September 2015 from Championship side Nottingham Forest, impressing during the second half of last season for Slaven Bilic’s side with eight goals and three assists.  

Antonio netted the winner against Bournemouth last weekend and his headed goal against City was the 10th he’s scored since August 2015. No English midfielder has scored more in the Premier League in that time.

Barkley must start to deliver

The most surprising omission from Allardyce’s first squad is 22-year-old Everton midfielder Ross Barkley. An unused player in England’s Euro 2016 squad, Barkley said last week Roy Hodgson should have shown more faith in him and that he’d use his disappointment from the summer to kick on this season. Now he’ll have to kick on simply to force his way back into the England set-up.

“It’s not potential anymore. These young players have had a lot of games now. This is the England first-team. You want the players to be producing their top quality immediately,” Allardyce said in his first press conference – and it seems he is not willing to select players based on what they could do in the future.

For Barkley that means he’ll have to …

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