Anyone who has been following Liverpool this season will be just as manager Brendan Rodgers was baffled as to why Jon Flanagan was left out of the England squad.
Never mind not making it into the full England squad, he was even left out of the U-21 squad list with Rodgers of the opinion that the Liverpool youngster was a candidate for the senior team.
Speaking after the 3-0 away win at Southampton the Reds boss said: “I couldn’t believe he wasn’t even in the U21s!”
“I thought he might have been in with a chance of the full national team because he’s played in big games since he came into the team and has been outstanding – but I was equally as surprised he wasn’t in the U21s.
“He is a young player and still has a way to go. He’s improving all the time – you can see home and away he’s playing at a really high level.
“He’ll just continue to improve and develop and I’m sure he will get in there at some stage.”
During the post-game press conference Rodgers was also at pains to explain the different formations Liverpool have used this season.
“We’ve played 4-3-3, 4-2-3-1 and 3-5-2 and today we played a 4-4-2 diamond,” he said.
“You’ve got to heap huge praise onto the players, who kept the tactical discipline in order to block up the space and be a threat going forward.
“Our players were tactically brilliant today; kept a clean sheet collectively as a team and scored three goals.”
Liverpool is currently joint second with Arsenal in the Premiership three points behind league leaders Chelsea.
