Posts tagged England

Emile Heskey announced his retrement from international football yesterday, the obvious question being when did he start playing international football!? Boom Boom!

Yes its an easy joke but surely one that merrits serious pondering?

7 goals from 62 caps for a striker in an abysmal record whatever way you look at it. Yes people might say he brought more to the team than just goals, but what exactly? He was supposed to bring out the best in Wayne Rooney, while that may have been true in a handful of qualifyers it certainly wasn’t evident in South Africa.

The fact that he has hardly played for Aston Villa this season probably hasn’t helped his recent form, argugably his best spell for England (and the few games that he did actually click with Rooney) were whilst he was playing for Wigan. At the JJB he was a big fish in a little pond. That suited Heskey, boosted his confidence and for a while turned him into a half decent player. Whizz forward 18 months to the World cup and we saw that old familier Heskey, a ‘Big Man’ who fell over in the slightest breeze.

So farewell Emile at least you’ll always have September 1st 2001 to look back on. it may be a case of jumping before you’re pushed but when you’re losing to your arch rivals and in desperate need of 2 goals to draw level, the decision to bring Heskey on to get those goals means he’s not the only one who should maybe consider their retirement.