Zamora for England?

No, absolutely not.

Roy Hodgson, probably one of the Premier League's best managers, today suggested that Bobby Zamora gives England a great alternative to Emile Heskey at the World Cup. He couldn't be more accurate - in the semi-finals let's swap one big tough bastard who has as much chance of scoring at the World Cup as I do, with another.

Why have certain sectors of the public now decided that we need a number 9 whose sole purpose is to chest the ball down and go down dramatically at corners? We might play in all white, but Bolton we aint.

Peter Crouch is the only choice to play alongside Rooney if we want a front line with agility, creativity and an eye for goal. We can't afford to have a Heskey or Zamora clogging up the penalty area when one of the good players comes steaming in to meet a cross.

I will always love Zamora for the goals he scored to get us to the Premiership in 2005 - his second against Ipswich was without doubt one of the goals of the season, but in the Premiership, four years and a couple of stone later, he simply won't score unless he's four and a half yards out. His goals have come against some of the worst defences in the league, Portsmouth, Hull and Liverpool for example, and we need players who can make chances for themselves. I'd love to see him in the next friendly though just to be proved right.