Should more Palace players be playing for England?

This weekend sees a temporary halt to Premier League action and football interests turn instead to the internationals with qualification for next year’s European championships the goal for nations across Europe. In terms of Palace’s contribution to the action, eight members of the first team were called up to represent their countries in this set of qualifiers – but should it have been more?

Only 3 Palace players were called up to represent the home nations; Joe Ledley and Wayne Hennessey for Wales, James McArthur for Scotland and… nobody for England. This is a source of great debate for many Palace fans, myself included, because some English Palace players have consistently delivered at club level and seem to have been overlooked.

Alan Pardew agrees with me as well, back in august he tipped both Jason Puncheon and Scott Dann for an England call, albeit with a backhanded compliment “I do think Puncheon is underestimated by a lot of people in the game. I’ve played with players who have played for England and he is better than some of them”. I’ll admit, Pardew didn’t put it brilliantly but his sentiment was spot on – Jason has been turning in quality performances for a side which overachieved after a poor start last season and are subsequently 4^th this season after nearly a quarter of the season gone. At 29, Puncheon is by no means a has-been either and although he is no Ross Barkley in terms of age, he isn’t as old as Michael Carrick. He’s notched two assists already this season as well, meaning that he has outperformed Jonjo Shelvey for both this season and the entirety of last season in goals and assists.

It’s also true that Puncheon can be excruciatingly annoying to watch at times though, sometimes he just doesn’t look at the races and seems to lose the ball every single time he gets it – the Tottenham game was a prime example of just such an occasion. These games, however frustrating, are certainly not the norm and his technical though, and worse players have played for England.

It wasn’t too long ago that Joel Ward was the name on everyone’s lips when talking about a potential England call up, and rightfully so. He suffered a shaky start to this season before being injured a couple of weeks ago but in the last two seasons he was arguably Palace’s most consistent performer. His statistics for last season compared to Clyne at Southampton are very similar – he made 61 interceptions to Clyne’s 64, Joel made more clearance, more blocks and lost possession only slightly more often. It mustn’t be forgotten that all of this was accomplished while playing all but half the season at left back which is no mean feat for a right footer. If Joel can rediscover the kind of form he maintained for the first couple of seasons in the Premier League at Palace I think he deserves to be in and around the squad on merit.

Wilfried Zaha musn’t be forgotten either – he is one of only 3 players at the club to have been capped for England (Martin Kelly and Fraizer Campbell are the other two). I’ve said recently that Zaha has been in blistering form in the last two or three games, form which would see him knocking on the door of the England set-up if it were to continue in that fashion. The one hope for Zaha is that it was Roy Hodgson that handed him his opportunity in 2012 against Sweden and so perhaps he is already in the back of Roy’s mind as an option.

For me, if anyone were to get called up it would have to be Scott Dann - he meets all the requirements of a quality centre back, and then some. He’s powerful in the air, quick across the ground as well as being a strong tackler, and that’s before you consider his ability on the ball, which is probably the best I’ve seen at Palace for a defender. Add that to his composure and obvious leadership skills (he’s captained Coventry, a premier league Blackburn and now, albeit temporarily, Palace) and you have got one heck of a centre back. Jagielka and Cahill are the obvious starters but beyond those two I don’t see why he shouldn’t be in the squad ahead of Phil Jones who has played just 1 game this season in the league. Dann is playing well week in, week out.

I’m not trying to argue that Puncheon should be in the squad as opposed to Shelvey, Scott Dann needs to start ahead of Jagielka or even that Joel Ward should displace Clyne in the right black slot – that just isn’t it. All I, and every other fan of ‘smaller’ clubs want is for our players to get a chance if they deserve it. I think Scott Dann does deserve a chance and if Joel Ward can recreate the kind of form that had us all so excited last season then I don’t see why he shouldn’t at least be in the squad. Personally I’m less convinced about Puncheon but if his performances this season merit inclusion then playing for a small team in South London shouldn’t hold him, or anyone else, back.