One player who will be hoping he did enough during international break to earn a starting place in Frank Lampard’s starting Chelsea eleven today, is England midfielder Ross Barkley.
Barkley scored twice and assisted once in England’s emphatic 6-0 win against Bulgaria this week, and he put in a very good performance.
So far though at club level, he has been kept on the fringes by 20-year old Mason Mount and has been forced to mainly watch on from the sidelines.
This is largely down to his inconsistency. He has been absolutely brilliant at times, but then can be absolutely awful the next week, this is no exaggeration.
Today Chelsea face Newcastle United in the Premier League and Lampard once again has selection headaches to deal with all over the pitch, with a number of players staking claims for what they believe is deserved starts.
Lampard has been praising Barkley, as reported by the Chelsea website.
He said:
“Ross played well [for England].
“I am loving his arrival into the box, that is what you always want when you are playing with midfielders with attacking qualities, for them to be in the six-yard box, not just to be in and around the area, and it is good for his confidence.
“He knows that it is competitive here for a place in midfield. I am delighted to see players going away internationally and doing well, particularly if they have not been playing as much as they would like to here. It gives me a good problem and I am pleased for him.
“One thing I have found from working with Ross is that he really wants to learn and improve.
“He wants to listen and he has great talent. That is probably why people have judged him to be at a level from a young age because we do get excited when a great talent comes through in England.
“His move here to Chelsea where it is competitive has given him challenges, and it is up to him to show what he showed for England on Monday night, and what he is showing in parts already since I have been here because midfield players who can go by a player and who can use right and left foot and conjure a moment out of nothing are gold.
“But then you have to have the complete game with that and Ross certainly has those talents and can get better.”
