Holt for England?

For some time, we have been debating the merits of several England strikers, but one that has to date gone unmentioned, is Norwich City`s Grant Holt.

Now, this may not be the most exciting option for many neutral fans, but if we are looking at a target man for either a Plan A or B, is Holt really any better or worse of a suggestion than the recent selections of Andy Carroll, Bobby Zamora or Peter Crouch?

Seven Premiership goals this season, compare very well against the others, with Carroll, only managing two goals, which even if we consider that he has played less full games than all the others, he is also playing for a team that is higher on the table and who are seemingly creating far more chances for their strikers to convert. Bobby Zamora has a disappointing three goals in twelve games and Crouch comes a distant second to Holt with four goals in fourteen.

The reality is that we probably don`t have a genuine international striker amongst the four and with three of them being over thirty, you assume that any future selections will be strictly short -medium term, but with a major tournament next summer, is it worth trying the player in form over the others that are all struggling or are seemingly not in Capello`s thinking?

If we look at age, Holt is a few months younger than both of Crouch and Zamora, though obviously both have far greater top flight experience and certainly in the case of Crouch, he has far greater international experience and pedigree, but the latter probably doesn`t apply to either Carroll or Zamora, who are both relatively new to the international stage and are still to prove themselves capable to producing at this level.

If we look at Holt`s rivals and their current positions as well as form, it perhaps could give Grant greater hope of getting at least a squad call up from Capello before the Euro`s. The problems of Andy Carroll and his settling in at Liverpool have been well documented. Perhaps his best hope of catching Capello`s eye will be if Liverpool fail to reduce the ban for Suarez, which could give Carroll a run of games over the next couple of months, but that could just as easily end in tears as opposed to triumph, based on his form over the last 12 months.

You have to wonder of Fabio Capello simply doesn`t fancy Peter Crouch, who is now starting to play well again for Stoke and is the obvious choice based on his past England form, and he has by far the best top level experience, but does Capello rate the player, or perhaps he even wants to go with a player with greater muscle to bully the opposition instead of standing over them?

The seeming fall out between Bobby Zamora and Fulham probably couldn`t have come at a worse time for the players international ambitions. He is currently out of the side as much as he is in it, whilst any move away from Craven Cottage represents a big gamble as it may well take time to settle, and indifferent form won`t help his chances of an England call. Zamora is a decent player, but his lack of goals will always count against him.

So back to Grant Holt. He may not be the ideal choice for many, but he is big, strong, technically decent and most importantly he seems to know where the goal is. His jump from being a high scoring lower league and Championship striker into the Premiership has been seamless, so why not expect the same should he get a call from Capello?

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