Jay Rodriguez, Rickie Lambert and Adam Lallana all earned what Southampton manager Mauricio Pochettino described as “deserved calls” to the English National Team and last Saturday two of the three scored, much to the delight of the on-looking Roy Hodgson.
Yet while the Englishmen justified their honor, it was a Frenchman, midfielder Morgan Schneiderlin, whose performance may once again have gotten overlooked.
With a match-high 93.1% pass completion to go with his three interceptions and four clearances, the 24-year-old bossed the Saints midfield and opened the scoring with a hard-fought header to help Southampton to their fifth Premier League victory in seven matches.
The performance was yet another message to French National Team manager Didier Deschamps to give Schneiderlin a call-up, as if his leading the Premier League in both interceptions (139) and tackles (146) last year didn’t already warrant the honor.
Pochettino, for one, is surprised a call-up to Les Bleus has yet to come through.
“It does surprise me [he hasn’t played for France] because he’s a player that does have the same quality as the players that have been called up,” Pochettino told the Daily Mail.
“He is a player that has amazing quality and I am 100 percent sure it will happen. He needs to keep on working with the same humility, the same work ethic and it’s a matter of time until he will get that call-up.”
And just in case the French Football Federation thinks Pochettino might be a little too high on his own player, the Argentine manager through out a little nugget for them to suck on.
“The only thing I would say to the French Federation is they should be careful because he might be able to play for England.”
That threat, based on the residency rule, is a 100% valid as Schneiderlin’s has lived in England for the last five years.