With the International break having been and England lacking in the central defensive position, is it time for Roy Hodgson to take a look at West Ham’s young defender James Tomkins?
Well it has been a hit and miss season for James Tomkins, he has been in and out of the squad and not really hit the heights of his outstanding previous season. However, Tomkins has been played out of position by Sam Allardyce which I feel hasn’t helped him and the fact he missed pre-season training due to being part of the Olympic squad in which he wasn’t utilised as much as Tomkins or the West Ham boss would have liked.
The fact remains that Tomkins is still a huge potential and has masses of ability playing his natural position of centre back. At the age of 23 he still has a lot to learn and mature.
The next couple of seasons will determine if Tomkins will make the England national team, but before this can even be a question Tomkins needs to regain the form of last season and become a first team regular at West Ham. Cutting out the little mistakes and errors in judgement that are made would help in proving his ability week in week out. All of us West Ham fans know that the ability is there and how much of an exciting product Tomkins is, but is this a case of another Mark Noble – both regulars for the England U21 team but failing to make the full national squad?
So I guess the answer to the question should he have made the national team for the previous two games where defensively Englandwere weak, I would have to say no not at the minute. I feel there is a strong queue ahead of Tomkins with the likes of Smalling, Jones, Cahill and Shawcross to name a few. As I have previously stated the next couple of seasons will determine what will happen for Tomkins, the ability is there but its time to show it every week in the top league.