It's only nine days until the festival of football in Brazil gets under way - The Manchester City man's position has come under threat following the emergence of Raheem Sterling and Adam Lallana but he insists it brings the best out of him
Fight for places: Milner believes the competition in the England squad is a good thing
James Milner today insisted it's the threat to his England place that keeps him focused.
Milner has watched with wry amusement the attention that has gone to World Cup new-boys Ros Barkley, Adam Lallana and Raheem Sterling.
The Yorkshireman , though, has been one of Roy Hodgson's go-to players throughout his reign, arguably England's best performer in the crunch away qualifiers in Poland, Montenegro and Ukraine.
With the price of defeat in the Group D opener with Italy a huge one, Hodgson may yet turn to the Manchester City man, despite the talent of the next England generation.
And Milner, who will earn his 47th cap against Ecuador in the Sun Life Stadium tomorrow, believes the knowledge of how hard he has to fight for his place make him all the more ready for combat.
Milner said: "The young players do represent a challenge to me - but that's exactly what's needed.
"You want competition all over the squad, players playing in different roles and in different ways.
"It's an exciting young squad but we have senior players as well, five or six including me who were at the last World Cup.
"Anything I can do to help the younger players, I will. We want to make them as comfortable as possible going into the tournament."
While Milner is fighting for his starting place in Manaus, Ben Foster accepts he is travelling to Brazil as an understudy.
Foster earned his first cap against Spain under Steve McClaren in 2007 but has added just five caps since.
The West Brom gloveman , enticed out of international retirement by former Baggies boss Hodgson, will make his first England start since the defeat by France at Wembley in November 2010 against the South American side.
But Foster is not going to bang down Hodgson's door in the squad's Rio hotel to demand he gets the vote to play ahead of Joe Hart.
Foster said:
"It would be nice to play some more games. But Joe is one of these guys who likes to know he's playing.
"It's the same with your clubs, if you know you are playing week in week out, you can tailor everything around."I think it's different for an outfield player because they do all their work separately. For a goalkeeper, it's important you know you're playing not only for how you tailor your training but mentally.
"Having said that, it'll be easy to slip in for me. The way Roy makes everyone feel part of the 23 - that's the big difference.
"We've placed huge importance on the 23 man squad and emphasis on the fact we are a squad. That's a huge part.
"I've been told I'm playing in this game and I knew that last week, so I can tailor my week to get ready for it."
Source: Mirror Sport
No comments:
Post a Comment