MyBettingSites had the pleasure of sitting down with Liverpool legend John Barnes who discussed footballing topics related to Arsenal, including the form of Ben White and whether England will miss the defender, as well as Manchester United star Marcus Rashford.
In this article:
- England are not missing out on Ben White
- Does Rashford play better for England than for United?
- Southgate made the right call dropping Rashford
England are not missing out on Ben White
One of the huge talking points in recent months has been the outstanding form of Ben White for Arsenal which coincides with an England defence which doesn’t look stabilised and White making a choice to not play for his country. White’s self-imposed England exile has seen him left out of Gareth Southgate’s squad for Euro 2024. Whilst Southgate has remained diplomatic on the matter, England fans are questioning why White would choose to not play for and represent his country. However, Barnes believes that whilst White chooses to exile himself from International football, he’s not a loss to England or Southgate.
England are not missing out on Ben White
“England aren’t missing out on the services of any player, Harry Kane included if they don’t want to play for England. If you don’t want to play for England it doesn’t matter how good you are.”
“I don’t know the ins and outs but it seems as though he doesn’t want to play for England so how can we criticise Gareth Southgate?”
“Gareth should never have to pander to any player whether it’s Harry Kane or anybody else.”
Does Rashford play better for England than for United?
One of the bigger shocks from last week came in the news that Marcus Rashford was left out of Gareth Southgate’s 33 man squad for the 2024 Euros tournament. Southagte instead called up the likes of Anthony Gordon, Jarrod Bowen, Eberechi Eze, James Maddison, Phil Foden, Cole Palmer and Bukayo Saka. Whilst Barnes is surprised by the move, he claims that Southgate made the right decision in leaving Rashford out.
“I think there are certain players who play for England that regardless of how things are going with their club, they always do well for England. Harry Maguire is one.”
“No matter how things are going at Man United, the way England play suits him. It’s not frenetic. You don’t have to play a high line.”
“I would also say international football suits Rashford too.”
“I also thought Rashford was one of those players but what’s worked against him is that England have so many good attacking players in the same positions.”
Southgate made the right call dropping Rashford
“There’s Eze, Grealish. Foden, Saka and Palmer. There are so many players now compared to maybe two or three years ago. At that time even if Marcus wasn’t playing well he’d get called up. Now Gareth has so many options that are doing well for their club and he couldn’t leave them out.”
“It wouldn’t have been right for Gareth to call up Rashford ahead of the rest of the players. It’s unfortunate but the players called up have earned their place.”
