#benmee

[sportsleague365]

Ben Mee marks landmark Burnley appearance with winner against Crystal Palace

Ben Mee marked his 300th league appearance for Burnley with the winner at Crystal Palace to continue to lead from the front for the Clarets. #BenMee #CrystalPalace #CrystalPalaceVsBurnley

[sportsleague365]

Burnley captain Ben Mee says players ‘condemn’ plane stunt

Burnley spoke of their sadness and shame after the flying of an offensive banner during their 5-0 thrashing at Manchester City. #BenMee #CrystalPalace #FPstaff

[mattlane91-blog1]

Ben Mee Is Good Enough For Three Lions

After watching both England and Burnley this season, I see no plausible reason why Centre Back Ben Mee shouldn’t be considered for the national side.

A lot of the media are fawning over superstar goalkeeper Tom Heaton lately - and this is merited given his form for Burnley over his career, more specifically the last month or two where he has single-handedly brought home the point for the Clarets. Heaton has been in the England setup for over a year.

Another media darling is Michael Keane. Rightly praised for his strong performances at the back for Burnley in the same period. Coming from the Old Trafford Setup as a youth player and linked with a transfer to both Leicester and Chelsea in the summer has helped boost his reputation, and his form since then has only stoked the first further. Keane was called up in the last international break and could get a cap against Spain in the next few days.

The central part of Burnley’s back line is made up of a third player however, who has been equally commanding in recent weeks, and indeed the last 12 months since his conversion from Left Back. I am of course talking about Ben Mee.

Aside from being an absolute dream for creative fans to shoehorn his name into new chants (A Message To You Ben Mee, Ben Mee, Shape Me etc), Ben has all the qualities that would improve the centre back position for England. I believe 20 years ago he would be playing for a top club in England and regularly playing in the national side, but the current ‘trend’ is for centre halves to be very strong on the ball, pacey and able to pick out long passes as well as move the ball out of the back with their feet. None of these are Ben’s strengths.

However, he has an uncanny ability to do well what so many other defenders seem to struggle with lately (John Stones, I’m looking at you).

Ben Mee can tackle. Ben Mee can mark well and win headers with players much taller and stronger than him. He is the bravest player I have ever seen - you’ll be able to find a video of his goal line block for Burnley against Reading a number of years ago where he used his face to block a thunderous strike from 5 yards out. The game didn’t even mean anything and we were already behind.

Mee would be best described as a ‘limited defender’ but that is no bad thing. The balance between Keane and Mee for Burnley serves us well, and both players learn off one another as well as complement each other’s skill sets.

Alongside a more forward minded centre back, I think Ben Mee would add some steel and backbone to the central defensive pairing for England. I am stunned a player like Jagielka still gets the nod when his form has been awful for at least the last twelve months. It’s time to try something different, and Ben Mee offers a traditional approach to centre back that we haven’t had since John Terry was in his prime.

Potentially the most underrated Claret at present, it’s time Ben Mee got the call from Southgate.

[hallyink]

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