Seeing four Saints picked for England is superb news – absolutely fantastic!
(Don’t forget to register for my free goal-prediction game www.goaldengoals.co.uk by tonight to win £200 in March.)
I can’t ever remember this happening in my playing days so hats off to Adam Lallana, Rickie Lambert, Jay Rodriguez and Luke Shaw.
I always thought Luke was nailed on to be in the squad to face Denmark in next week’s friendly.
Luke has enjoyed a wonderful season and Roy Hodgson has spoken very highly of him in recent weeks.
And this is a very important game for him, too, because it’s the last one before Hodgson names his squad for the World Cup Finals.
Adam and Rickie, I think, have the most chance of getting to Brazil in the summer.
But I am really more pleased to see Jay in the 30-man squad.
He didn’t have the greatest of debuts against Chile in November but he hasn’t let it affect his club form.
Jay has still gone about his business at Southampton and kept up some pretty consistent performances.
So I’m pleased that he has not been discarded after one cap which may have made him think he was not good enough.
Andy Carroll’s injury and disciplinary problems at West Ham has opened the door for Rickie.
Rickie has not let England down when he’s played and scoring with his first touch on his international debut against Scotland only helped his cause.
Adam has been a good footballer for quite a few years and it’s great to see him getting the recognition he deserves
He was very loyal to the club when they dropped down to League One – he stuck by them and it’s paid off.
I really do hope that he gets his chance in Brazil to show everyone how good he is.
This news will give the four players a huge lift for Saturday’s home game against in-form Liverpool.
It’s going to be a tricky fixture for the Saints who have a chance of claiming a League double over the Reds having won at Anfield.
Liverpool are scoring goals for fun these days but they are not shy about letting in one or two themselves.
So, let’s hope, we can take advantage of that and claim a morale-boosting win for the four England Saints.
*Read Matt’s blogs at www.goaldengoals.co.uk and play his free goal-prediction game.
By Matt Le Tissier
Pictures provided by Goalden Goals, Ben Sutherland and Dean.Jones.
