Scott Parker was man of the match in front of Steve McLaren yesterday, in Newcastle's 1-1 draw with Everton. With performances like that, and with Owen Hargreaves very, very injured, surely it's time Parker got a look in with England.

Sven might not have liked him (still not sure why) and so far Steve hasn't fancied him (again not sure why) but Parker seems like the closest thing England have to a Makelele. More than likely Michael Carrick will replace Hargreaves as the holding midfielder, but I'd much prefer to see the focused, tenacious, tough tackling of Parker given a go.

If the lad's not even in the squad for the Macedonia game (which should be announced later this week) then we'll know McLaren has something against him.