Former Arsenal captain Stewart Robson believes neither Tottenham Hotspur’s Michael Dawson nor Everton’s Phil Jagielka are good enough to become first team regulars for England.
The latter was widely praised for his performance against Bulgaria last week, but Robson, who captained Arsenal in the early 1980s, suggests both have flaws to their game that could be consistently exposed at international level.
Dawson came off injured and is expected to be replaced by Bolton Wanderers star Gary Cahill for tonight’s European qualifier against Switzerland, but Robson harbours concerns over England’s strength in depth when John Terry and Rio Ferdinand are absent.
The Gunners hero told talkSport: “If people believe that the two centre-halves that played the other night, Dawson and Jagielka, are going to be international quality they’re going to be wrong.
“I’ve been reading lots of reports about Jagielka being a really good player but I watched him all night and he made some really poor decisions defensively, in terms of where he should be, trying to step up at the wrong time.
“Dawson, before he got injured, was coming up when he should have been going back in and he was going back in when he should have been coming up.
“They didn’t have a good understanding and they didn’t have a good understanding in the second half against Hungary so I still think England need their experienced centre-halves.
“I’ve given John Terry criticism but he’s still better than the two that are in there at the moment."