Sam Disappointed By Nolan Omission

By Mark Heys
February 27 2006

Kevin Nolan's omission from the England squad which takes on Uruguay in an international friendly this week has left Bolton Wanderers manager Sam Allardyce disappointed.

Nolan has once again been overlooked by the current Three Lions coach Sven Goran Eriksson despite hitting his tenth goal of the season during yesterday's 2-1 win over Fulham.

The 23-year old has been one of the most consistant performers this season, not just for Bolton but in the Premier League overall and the statistics from Opta and such like back this theory up.

"I am not surprised Kevin was not included but I am slightly disappointed. But I can understand it given the quality of players England has in that position, particularly Frank Lampard, who is one of the best in the world." he said.

"You can understand that, but Kevin is 23-years-old, he is playing in midfield and he is scoring double figures from midfield. At this moment in time he can't do any more than that, but if there is somebody there that much better than him then you can probably understand it."

Bolton captain Nolan has previously represented England at youth and U21 level but even in those days it proved to be an ongoing task to get then U21 boss David Platt to take a look at the Liverpudlian.