Will Fabio Capello Find His Way to The Britannia Stadium This Season?
For a player who has admitted that he still has aspirations of playing for England again, it begs the question as to why Peter Crouch joined Stoke.
While he maintains that his time with the Three Lions is far from finished surely moving to the Britannia Stadium has killed off those hopes for good when you consider the damning evidence of the last 18 months.
Crouch only needs to look around his new dressing room at the likes of Ryan Shawcross and Matthew Etherington to discover that playing in the red-and-white of Stoke appears to render footballers invisible to Fabio Capello.
The England coach has continually overlooked Tony Pulis's clearly unfashionable club and probably has an excuse to never pick Crouch again after the striker moved from Spurs to the Potteries.Capello's visits to Stoke can be counted on the fingers of one hand and his comment at the weekend regarding Manchester United's Ashley Young was an horrific indictment of how he views English football and the clubs not fortunate enough to be in the elite.
His claim that Young's recent form was down to the fact that "he is now playing with a really important team" will only have increased the frustration for Shawcross, in particular.
The Stoke captain's continued exclusion from England squads will hurt more than the 'thug' taunts he has endured ever since the infamous incident with Aaron Ramsey in February last year.
Shawcross was excellent against Liverpool on Saturday but must know he is never going to get picked while Capello sees out his contract with England.
He has seen Gary Cahill move way ahead of him in the pecking order while United's Phil Jones also seems to be inching his way further into the reckoning.
Etherington was always a unlikely shout for Capello due to his age but even still, surely after a consistent last 12 months he was more deserving of a cap than, for example, Jay Bothroyd.
It will be interesting to see if Crouch ever does receive international recognition again after completing his club record £10 million move.
Stoke are fashionable all of a sudden and some pundits are even tipping them to knock on the door for a Champions League place so, perhaps, they might be seen as a "really important team" by Capello before too long.
But Crouch, who won the last of his 42 caps in November, will have to do more than hit the ground running to force the England coach into asking his chauffeur to navigate the M6 and find a route to the Brit.
Crouch reckons the best years of his career will be at Stoke. But will it be enough for Capello?
While he maintains that his time with the Three Lions is far from finished surely moving to the Britannia Stadium has killed off those hopes for good when you consider the damning evidence of the last 18 months.
Crouch only needs to look around his new dressing room at the likes of Ryan Shawcross and Matthew Etherington to discover that playing in the red-and-white of Stoke appears to render footballers invisible to Fabio Capello.
The England coach has continually overlooked Tony Pulis's clearly unfashionable club and probably has an excuse to never pick Crouch again after the striker moved from Spurs to the Potteries.Capello's visits to Stoke can be counted on the fingers of one hand and his comment at the weekend regarding Manchester United's Ashley Young was an horrific indictment of how he views English football and the clubs not fortunate enough to be in the elite.
His claim that Young's recent form was down to the fact that "he is now playing with a really important team" will only have increased the frustration for Shawcross, in particular.
The Stoke captain's continued exclusion from England squads will hurt more than the 'thug' taunts he has endured ever since the infamous incident with Aaron Ramsey in February last year.
Shawcross was excellent against Liverpool on Saturday but must know he is never going to get picked while Capello sees out his contract with England.
He has seen Gary Cahill move way ahead of him in the pecking order while United's Phil Jones also seems to be inching his way further into the reckoning.
Etherington was always a unlikely shout for Capello due to his age but even still, surely after a consistent last 12 months he was more deserving of a cap than, for example, Jay Bothroyd.
It will be interesting to see if Crouch ever does receive international recognition again after completing his club record £10 million move.
Stoke are fashionable all of a sudden and some pundits are even tipping them to knock on the door for a Champions League place so, perhaps, they might be seen as a "really important team" by Capello before too long.
But Crouch, who won the last of his 42 caps in November, will have to do more than hit the ground running to force the England coach into asking his chauffeur to navigate the M6 and find a route to the Brit.
Crouch reckons the best years of his career will be at Stoke. But will it be enough for Capello?
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