On Saturday evening, Micah Richards would have been a proud man. In the absence of the suspended Vincent Kompany, Richards was named captain for Manchester City‘s trip to QPR.
It was another plus point in what has so far been an excellent period in Richard’s career. As the first-choice right back for the team five points clear at the top of the Premier League, he has been attracting all the plaudits after getting his career firmly back on track. Everything has been rosy in his particular garden – but he hadn’t factored in Fabio Capello. On Sunday evening, Capello named his England squad for the upcoming friendlies against Spain and Sweden.
It was a young squad, as understandably Capello looked at his options using two non-competitive matches. Despite all this, he thought Micah Richards didn’t merit a place in the squad, for the team he first represented in 2006 aged only 18. The response was one of incredulity, and not just from City fans. Supporters of all clubs were mystified. As Annie Eaves (a Manchester United fan) of the Mirror tweeted: When so many Manchester United fans are outraged that a City player isn’t in the England squad then you know it’s a strange decision.
Joey Barton was incredulous. Darren Huckerby surprised. The cast of the Guardian podcast bemused.
Richards himself released a couple of tweets. The first simply said: ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha <repeat to fade>.
The second said: Disappointment is an understatement!!
His disappointment was understandable, as it is hard to know what more he has to do. He said in 2010: “It’s definitely frustrating and every time the full squad’s named and I’m not in there, I’m devastated, because I know with my ability that I think I should be. If you look at my England career, I’ve played 11 times and in all those games I think I’ve done reasonably well”.
He said it again this week: “I know what I’ve got to do – keep working hard – and that’s what I’ll do.”
But sadly for him, Capello simply doesn’t rate him.
The rumour is that Capello has serious doubts still about Richards’ defensive capabilities. If so it seems strange as Richards had improved immeasurably over the past year. If Capello really doesn’t rate him defensively it simply is nonsensical to pick Glen Johnson instead, who offers nothing extra in defence, and isn’t even a first team regular in a team 12 points behind city in the premier league( not that league position is everything, far from it). Kyle Walker has also been chosen for the squad- a perfectly acceptable decision as he is a player on the up, but I still don’t personally think that at this precise moment he is better than Richards.
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