Aaron LennonTottenham Hotspur midfielder Aaron Lennon played with pace and persistence against Blackburn Rovers today and deservedly won man of the match for his efforts.
The 21-year-old midfielder raced round the Blackburn fullback Martin Olsson with ease, and the humiliation was such, that the defender was sent off six minutes from half-time as he was booked for his second, cynical challenge on Lennon.
Pundits have often heralded Lennon’s pace but criticised his lack of end product, but in this game he was able to provide both. Beating Olsson on the right for the umpteenth time and laying off a simple ball to the Russian striker Roman Pavluychenko to finish smartly.
Lennon also tested ex-Tottenham keeper Paul Robinson several times as he quickly darted about the midfield cleverly making space for himself.
The young midfielder’s impact coming off the bench against Chelsea a few weekends ago, suggests that he might be finding some consistency to his game under Spurs manager Harry Redknapp.
Not a shoe-in for England
But until he secures this consistency, puts in at least five impressive displays, it would seem far too premature for England manager, Fabio Capello, to answer Harry’s call that his player should be a shoe-in for England.
Two impressive performances do not earn you a call-up.
Kevin Nolan can play well against Arsenal one week, rough up the French elite and get a pat on the back from The Times writer Tony Cascarino and he certainly won’t earn that golden phone call.
When Aston Villa's Gabriel Agbonlahor got his first cap against Germany last week, he had strung together some compelling performances for his club throughout the last couple of Premier league seasons.
Agbonlahor’s team-mate, Ashley Young has only just received his first call-up to the senior side too after shining at Villa for some time.
Granted Capello took a chance on 19-year-old Theo Walcott after only just breaking into the Arsenal first eleven this season.
But when he was given this chance away to Croatia in September – like Lennon was given under ex-England manager Sven-Goran Eriksson– he took it, becoming England's youngest ever hat-trick scorer at 19 years 178 days.
Lennon has yet to impress on the international stage.
But if he is able to frequently re-produce these exciting performances, indeed then, he would be a real asset to England.
The 21-year-old midfielder raced round the Blackburn fullback Martin Olsson with ease, and the humiliation was such, that the defender was sent off six minutes from half-time as he was booked for his second, cynical challenge on Lennon.
Pundits have often heralded Lennon’s pace but criticised his lack of end product, but in this game he was able to provide both. Beating Olsson on the right for the umpteenth time and laying off a simple ball to the Russian striker Roman Pavluychenko to finish smartly.
Lennon also tested ex-Tottenham keeper Paul Robinson several times as he quickly darted about the midfield cleverly making space for himself.
The young midfielder’s impact coming off the bench against Chelsea a few weekends ago, suggests that he might be finding some consistency to his game under Spurs manager Harry Redknapp.
Not a shoe-in for England
But until he secures this consistency, puts in at least five impressive displays, it would seem far too premature for England manager, Fabio Capello, to answer Harry’s call that his player should be a shoe-in for England.
Two impressive performances do not earn you a call-up.
Kevin Nolan can play well against Arsenal one week, rough up the French elite and get a pat on the back from The Times writer Tony Cascarino and he certainly won’t earn that golden phone call.
When Aston Villa's Gabriel Agbonlahor got his first cap against Germany last week, he had strung together some compelling performances for his club throughout the last couple of Premier league seasons.
Agbonlahor’s team-mate, Ashley Young has only just received his first call-up to the senior side too after shining at Villa for some time.
Granted Capello took a chance on 19-year-old Theo Walcott after only just breaking into the Arsenal first eleven this season.
But when he was given this chance away to Croatia in September – like Lennon was given under ex-England manager Sven-Goran Eriksson– he took it, becoming England's youngest ever hat-trick scorer at 19 years 178 days.
Lennon has yet to impress on the international stage.
But if he is able to frequently re-produce these exciting performances, indeed then, he would be a real asset to England.
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