Gerrard excluded from England squad

England boss Fabio Capello has heeded Kenny Dalglish‘s advice by excluding Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard from the England squad for the forthcoming Euro 2012 qualifier with Montenegro.

Stewart Downing and Andy Carroll are the only Liverpool player’s named in the 23 man squad.

It was speculated that full back Martin Kelly may have earned a call-up but that has not come to fruition yet.

Gerrard has made sub appearances against Brighton and Everton since returning from groin injury and six months on the sidelines.

Last week, when asked if it would be a risk for England to call up Gerrard, Dalglish said: “I just hope they are as intelligent as we have been.”

“He’s done fantastic coming back and it’s fantastic for the whole club that he is back but the most important person in all of it is Steven himself.

“He’s missed an awful lot of football through injury so he’s done brilliant to get where he is.

“We will just continue in the intelligent manner that we have done. We can look forward to him getting even fitter. There will be no timescale or programme, we’ll just take it as it comes.

“He’s the captain and the talisman of the football club and he’s just played around 20 minutes for us. Steven coming back certainly makes our squad a whole lot stronger.

“For us it’s a real, real addition to the squad. To get your talisman back on the right road is, selfishly, great for us but more importantly is great for Steven.”

Liverpool’s next game is away to Man United in two weeks.

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