Bournemouth Fan View: Cherries snubbed on international stage

England are back on the international stage, huzzah! Said absolutely no-one ever. Yes it’s another international break, which means as a fan of AFC Bournemouth I’m stuck watching national managers make a range of foolish errors in fixtures that don’t really matter. Joy.

One common error is that none of them are picking our players. Now this might sound like a petty criticism: that I’m just a man biased towards his own club. A voice to be ignored.

But I’m not, honest. Our players are largely being ignored across the globe (well, okay, just in Europe) and it’s pretty perplexing.

International idiocy

Now I thought progress was being made on the England front when Lewis Cook was selected by manager Gareth Southgate for this latest pair of friendlies.

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And my hopes that he’d play for the Three Lions against were boosted further when Jack Wilshere – who Cook most closely resembles in the way he plays – was ruled out with an injury. Wilshere injured, who would have thought it (sorry Jack)?

But no, Cook never saw a second of game-time, despite a spate of changes being made after the hour mark. I can only hope he gets a chance to impress against Italy on Tuesday. It would be slightly heartbreaking for him to be called up twice without earning his first cap.

Koeman man oh man

However it was not just Southgate who snubbed our talents on Friday. The Netherlands coach Ronald Koeman also elected not to play Nathan Aké.

Now selecting Virgil Van Dijk and Stefan de Vrij in a back three ahead of our player I understand, but Aké is a far better option than Matthijs de Ligt in my opinion.

Aké plays weekly in the Premier League after all, so not to select him – or even sub him on – against an England side that consists of players he competes against every week was slightly bizarre.

Then there was the even more baffling decision for Scotland manager Alex McLeish not to play Ryan Fraser against Costa Rica. Instead loads of Championship players were considered better options than our winger.

Give them a chance

What’s even more frustrating is that when our players have been given a chance on the international stage they usually deliver. Or at the very least don’t disappoint.

Back when Matt Ritchie was ours he was often the standout player for Scotland for instance, and Harry Arter has put some typically combative displays in for the Republic of Ireland. Lewis Cook has, of course, captained the England U20s side to World Cup success too.

If it’s our small stature as a club that’s to blame for our players not being selected I’m not sure. But all I know is that international football would be roughly 17% better if several more of our squad were involved in it. And that is a fact (it is not a fact).

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