[Albion] Why is Dunk consistently overlooked by England?

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Sheebo

Well-known member
Jul 13, 2003
29,319
I don’t buy into the conspiracy theories like the ‘Southgate is palace’ nonsense but I will say it’s a great shame he’s only had 1 cap and did well / not a lot to do and hasn’t had a look in since.
 


Wardy's twin

Well-known member
Oct 21, 2014
8,871
As I have said before, the longer he stays away from that circus then the better he will be for Brighton. Maybe too parochial view for some but I rarely watch England games....
 


Stato

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Dec 21, 2011
7,374
The only thing that baffles me is Keane being ahead of him.

After a good season at Burnley I honestly haven’t seen anything in the last 2-3 years to make me think Keane is better than Dunk.

Michael Keane played for Southgate's under 21s for two seasons between 2013 & 2015. International managers are just like league managers. They return to players they know and trust. I assume that Peter Taylor had only the one match as England's caretaker manager because he must have mentioned Junior Lewis as a possibility for the next game.
 




hans kraay fan club

The voice of reason.
Helpful Moderator
Mar 16, 2005
62,763
Chandlers Ford
I think Southgate would have found it difficult to pick him while we have only won 1 game so far this season.

Our defensive record isn't bad - but being part of a winning team undoubtedly has an impact on which players are selected.

Aston Villa have only won one game - and have conceded more goals than us.
 


perseus

Broad Blue & White stripe
Jul 5, 2003
23,461
Sūþseaxna
As a regular at the Amex I’m genuinely baffled how one of our best CBs in the past 10+ years and now a Premier League regular can be consistently overlooked.

Especially now with Potter playing 3 at the back, which is a system Southgate likes.

The way I see it, the reasons are either (and feel free to add alternatives):
A) Mings, Keane and co. Are legitimately far better
B) Southgate mistakenly doesn’t rate him
C) Southgate correctly doesn’t rate him
Or D) Lewis exhibited bad traits when he was previously called up to the squad.

Which is it?

Not quick enough to be the covering defender and not dominant enough to be the big man in a back four. As he is all purpose and can play both roles, he is an ideal squad member for England.

The same traits as Maguire who can read the game better (arguable).

I would tend to pick Maguire and Stones.
 
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Hugo Rune

Well-known member
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Feb 23, 2012
23,692
Brighton
Michael Keane played for Southgate's under 21s for two seasons between 2013 & 2015. International managers are just like league managers. They return to players they know and trust.

Well, Stones has ****ed two competitive Semi-Finals for us so let’s hope that he never gets another sniff and that Gareth no longer trusts the liability.

As for Keane - he is a mistake waiting to happen. This inability to pick decent centre backs who can do a proper defensive job could cost us a title and Gareth his job in the long run.
 




GT49er

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Feb 1, 2009
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Gloucester
He isn't just a last-ditch fling-your-body-in-the-way type of defender - though he does seem to enjoy a bit of that! - but the way we played last season that is very likely how occasional observers will have seen him. I think what really doesn't help his case is that didn't come up through the England youth teams.
 


Kinky Gerbil

Im The Scatman
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Jul 16, 2003
58,792
hassocks
Said it before. The primary reason is, he plays for BHA.

If he'd got a summer move that made a splash in the headlines, then he'd have been in the squad. There is an inherent snobbery when it comes to picking players for England.


The squad has players from - Burnley/Villa/Bmuff/Leicester in it and he’s called players up from Other unfashionable clubs before.

It’s more that he didn’t play for the u21s and has had a shakey season.

Keane shouldn’t be in there either, in fact most our CBS are weak - Maguire hasn’t looked great at United -most are all quite slow which is why he’s called up Mings up

The whole he only calls players from big clubs is a
Myth
 


perseus

Broad Blue & White stripe
Jul 5, 2003
23,461
Sūþseaxna
Not quick enough to be the covering defender and not dominant enough to be the big man in a back four. As he is all purpose and can play both roles, he is an ideal squad member for England.

The same traits as Maguire who can read the game better (arguable).

I would tend to pick Maguire and Stones.

Gomez understudy for Stones, Dunk understudy for Maguire..
 




HastingsSeagull

Well-known member
Jan 13, 2010
9,432
BGC Manila
We have about 10 decent CBs and no elite ones. So he keeps trying new ones instead of just choosing who suits his style and sticking with them (until someone is amazeballs).
 


Stat Brother

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Jul 11, 2003
73,888
West west west Sussex
There is an amusing cycle to things. We get the corner to loud cheers and expectation, then the corner is cleared by the first man to groans and people moaning about how we never beat the first man (unless it's one of those corners that go over everyone, in which case we always over hit it, or we always play it into the keeper's hands etc) then we get another corner and the cheers and expectations come again. People seem fully aware of how infrequently we score from corners, yet get their hopes up all the time.
I think the delivery is considerably better than it once was, but clearly the outcome is exactly the same.

T'is an odd phenomenon and one I'm completely committed too.

(I bet you are as well)
 










heathgate

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Apr 13, 2015
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He is prone to lunges and rushed tackles, usually in and around the danger area.... I believe it's as simple as that.

Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk
 


Simster

"the man's an arse"
Jul 7, 2003
54,952
Surrey
Based on performances this season - I would have Dan Burn ahead of Lewis Dunk
Defensively ok, but going forward he's already cost us two goals by unnecessarily standing in offside positions.

For me, Dunk's exclusion is a combination of things:
* Southgate hasn't worked with him. Safer for him to pick players be knows
* In built bias against smaller clubs. Tyrone Mings goes from 5th choice at Bournemouth to England international in 2 years. Does anyone think that would have happened if he'd done that via Norwich or Sheff Utd rather than Villa?
* In all honesty, he's probably 5th or 6th best in the country. Only 2 or 3 can actually play, although I accept that he is worth more than one friendly cap.
 




Hugo Rune

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Feb 23, 2012
23,692
Brighton
Gomez understudy for Stones, Dunk understudy for Maguire..

How many times does Stones have to ruin our chances of getting into a competitive international final by making key mistakes in Semi-Finals before he is dropped from the England team permanently?

He has done this twice.

That’s enough for me, he should never play for England again.

Would you still pick him if he got the hat-rick of awful errors in the Euro’s and denied us the final at Wembley due to another Semi-gaff?

Big Game = Big Pressure = A Stones mistake leading to us conceding.

Honestly - I give up sometimes!!!!
 


Brovion

In my defence, I was left unsupervised.
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Jul 6, 2003
19,870
Is it just because he's not quite good enough?
Broadly speaking (and taking off the blue and white glasses and acknowledging that on a Brighton messageboard this will be an unpopular view) - yes it is. If I wanted to be unkind (which I don't obviously) I'd say Dunk has already won two England caps - his first and his last. He's great, and he could get better under Potter, but at the moment he is just short of true international class and I don't think he's the type of player Southgate wants. Plus he hardly set the world alight in his debut against the USA. I was willing him to be good and, IMO, he just came up short. He was ok, it wasn't a disaster, but it wasn't the level of performance to automatically warrant another one.
 


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