Teenager Jones handed call-up by England for Euro qualifiers

Manchester United defender Phil Jones has received his first call-up to the England senior squad ahead of the Euro 2012 qualifiers with Bulgaria and Wales.

The 19-year-old, who starred in yesterday’s 8-2 annihilation of Arsenal at Old Trafford, was part of Fabio Capello’s provisional squad for the friendly with Holland that was postponed earlier this month, but did not make the final cut.

However, along with fellow Red Devils youngsters Chris Smalling and Tom Cleverley, Jones has made it this time, helped by the absence of Rio Ferdinand, who has not played since injuring his hamstring at West Brom a fortnight ago.

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Jones is part of a five-strong United presence, which would almost certainly have been bigger still had Danny Welbeck not been ruled out by a hamstring injury he suffered after opening the scoring in yesterday afternoon’s game.

The teenager has caught the eye since moving to Old Trafford from Blackburn, where old boss Sam Allardyce once described him as the best young player he had ever worked with.

Yet Smalling, who was a non-playing member of Capello’s squad for the November friendly defeat by France, and Cleverley, who was called up for the Holland game following the withdrawal of Jack Wilshere and Michael Carrick through injury, have been only marginally less impressive.

Club-mates Wayne Rooney and Ashley Young, who contributed five of United’s staggering tally of goals yesterday, were always likely to be selected.

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Indeed, Manchester’s growing position as the powerbase of English football is emphasised by the addition of six members of the Manchester City squad that crushed Tottenham in equally emphatic style at White Hart Lane.

In total, there are six changes from the Holland game, with Darren Bent and Jermain Defoe recalled, plus Arsenal’s Theo Walcott, who was critical of Capello’s management style in his recently-published autobiography.

Amongst those who miss out are Peter Crouch, who is set to join Stoke this week, and former Sheffield United defender Kyle Walker, who has been overtaken by Smalling for the right-back role.

“Smalling has improved a lot,” said Capello.

“He has played with confidence. When he goes forward he doesn’t play with fear.

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“I remember him as a centre-back but he is a really interesting player in this position.”

Capello intended to hand Cleverley his first full cap against Holland.

Like Smalling and Jones, he has graduated from the England Under-21 ranks since this summer’s European Championships.

However, with points in Sofia on Friday and at Wembley the following Tuesday crucial to England’s hopes of qualifying considering they are level with Montenegro at the head of Group G with three matches remaining, Smalling appears the most likely to start.

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The major selection dilemma appears to be who will partner Rooney in attack given neither Bent nor Liverpool’s Andy Carroll have been in the best of form so far this season.

Defoe started alongside Rooney against Bulgaria 12 months ago and responded with a hat-trick in an impressive 4-0 win.

That memory may play on Capello’s mind, although the 28-year-old has not scored for his country since.

Manchester United’s 8-2 romp stunned the nation yesterday, but under-pressure Arsene Wenger insists he will not quit in the wake of what he admitted was a “humiliating” defeat.

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Already under pressure following the exits of Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri, Wenger was condemned by Arsenal old-boy Paul Merson, who criticised his old mentor on TV.

It is likely the Frenchman will face further fire. But he is adamant he will not walk away.

“No,” said Wenger, when asked if he would quit.

“Of course it hurts. It’s humiliating.

“But you could see we had not recovered physically from Wednesday. They had class and they punished us.”

The memories of Wednesday’s fine performance against Udinese were banished by this record landslide though, which will at the very least bring renewed calls for new faces.

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Wenger confirmed Korean striker Park Chu-yong could be confirmed as an Arsenal player later in the day.

However, it seemed his defence and midfield were in more urgent need of strengthening, although Wenger feels the absence of so many regular members of his first-choice XI was a key factor.

“We had too many players out. It was too much,” he said.

“We were poor defensively but there were points in the game where we had quality.

“I just feel we collapsed more physically than anything.

“It is better not to talk too much about this because it hurts.

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“We have to sort out our problems because, so far, we haven’t managed to do that.

“We are working very hard to find players but of course we are behind the other teams when it comes to wages.”

Efforts to sign Bolton’s Sheffield-born Gary Cahill will continue, with Wenger confirming Arsenal need a defender and a midfield player.

And while the search continues, he is ready to take any criticism.

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“I am in a public job and I have to accept that,” Wenger said.

“I have to make the right decision for the club and I will continue to that.

“We have played three games and I think you should give me more time to say if I have got it completely wrong.”

Wenger has an unlikely ally in United manager Sir Alex Ferguson, whose praise of the Gunners chief before the game continued after the drubbing.

“Of course I feel sympathy for him,” said Ferguson.

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“He is a great football man. He has done an incredible job for Arsenal for 15 years.

“He has given them a quality of football that they have never experienced.

“He brought some exciting players to the club.

“He deserves respect for that.

“When you play Arsenal, you don’t expect that,” said Ferguson.

“We have had some great results against them in the past but when you see Arsenal had a weakened team like that, you do expect to score goals because all their quality was in the forward positions.

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“When we hit form like that, someone suffers. Arsenal unfortunately suffered.”

The one downside for United was the loss of Welbeck to a hamstring injury.

For Rooney, though, there are no problems.

He has now leapt above Ruud van Nistelrooy and into United’s top 10 goalscorers list, 97 adrift of club record scorer Sir Bobby Charlton who has 249.

“It is a special day,” said Rooney. “It is always a great feeling to score. Now I have over 150 goals for a club like United. Hopefully there are many more to come.”

Goalkeepers: Joe Hart, Robert Green, David Stockdale.

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Defenders: Ashley Cole, Gary Cahill, John Terry, Leighton Baines, Phil Jagielka, Chris Smalling, Phil Jones, Micah Richards, Julian Lescott.

Midfielders: Stewart Downing, Gareth Barry, Adam Johnson, James Milner, Frank Lampard, Tom Cleverley, Ashley Young, Scott Parker, Theo Walcott.

Strikers: Darren Bent, Andy Carroll, Wayne Rooney, Jermain Defoe.