Should Andy Carroll play for England whatever he gets up to off the pitch?

It will be very interesting to see whether Fabio Capello picks Newcastle centre forward Andy Carroll in his next squad. The problem Capello has is that he has said he will pick the in form players playing regularly in the Premier League and he also took the captaincy away from John Terry for alleged off-field behaviour.

Standards

Capello is a disciplinarian and he demands high standards from his players. Against that, he is paid an awful lot of money to ensure that England are successful and win football matches.

Andy Carroll fits in to both categories. The form of the twenty-one year old striker is outstanding. He has scored six goals in eleven Premier League games this season and has impressed everyone with his level of performance. Arsene Wenger joined his fan club when Carroll scored the winning goal at the Emirates on Sunday.

Injured

With Wayne Rooney, Darren Bent and Jermain Defoe injured, it is difficult to make a case for any other English strikers to be ahead of Carroll in the current pecking order.

Unfortunately you have the other side of Carroll. He is currently living at the home of his club captain Kevin Nolan after being ordered to do so by a court as part of his bail conditions after an alleged assault charge. He also pleaded guilty to a separate assault charge after an incident at a Newcastle nightclub and was fined £1,000. Add to that the alleged assault on team-mate Steven Taylor, breaking his jaw on the training ground and his car being torched last week and you get a picture of a man with some issues.

Message

Talking to the BBC, former Newcastle manager Glenn Roeder said that he didn’t think that the selection of Andy Carroll would send the right message.

“I’d select him but I’m not saying he should play. I’m not certain he’s sending out great signals to young players. If he is picked the signals for me would be ‘I can do what I want it doesn’t matter, as long as I play well I’ve got a chance to play for England’. The standards should be much higher than that. He’s a great lad around the training ground, coaches love working with him, but by living the way he is he’s not fulfilling the potential that he could possibly fulfil by having just a bit of a quieter life.”

Selection

Another player who is showing great form at Newcastle, but presents a similar selection headache for Capello is Joey Barton. Unsurprisingly, Barton says that it is simply the football that should matter.

“Sometimes you need the players who don’t always toe the line. Hopefully they will stop worrying about Goody Two Shoes image which the sponsors want for England. They need to start picking players to win matches. The frustrating thing for me is that England pick the good guys for the World Cup because they won’t cause any problems, but every other national team picks the players who are simply the best in their position. I’m not telling Fabio Capello how to do his job, but for me it is a no-brainer to have Andy Carroll in his squad because he has everything to be the archetypal English centre-forward.”

Right

So who is right, Roeder or Barton? Should the England squad be selected on purely footballing merit or should the behaviour of the players as role models for young kids everywhere be taken into account? Would you select Carroll whatever he may have done off the field?