Steven Taylor for England Call-Up Talk Is Premature

After an excellent performance subduing Peter Crouch in Sunday's 2-1 victory over Stoke, manager Alan Pardew was quick to heap praise on his centre-half, with an England call-up for the lifelong Newcastle fan being mooted by his manager.

Whilst I have also been impressed by the recent performances of Taylor, talk of an England call-up is coming far too soon indeed.

For example, it was only a couple of weeks ago that he failed to deal with a speculative cross into the box that gifted Southampton a goal within the first five minutes of the game at St James Park. You can get away with those sort of mistakes sometimes at club level, but at international level, when games are often settled by one goal, that sort of mistake can be fatal.

However, when the international friendlies come around in the summer, I would like to see Taylor given a chance by Roy Hodgson. England are relatively short of options in the position, highlighted by Hodgson having to recall Rio Ferdinand to the squad this week.

One positive for Taylor is the number of games he has now managed to play since his return in January. The last three years of his career have been cruelly disrupted by numerous injury problems, but Taylor looks set to return his best appearance figures for a number of years if he stays fit between now and the end of the season.

He also has the opportunity in the absence of Fabricio Coloccini to establish himself as a real leader of Alan Pardew's men. With a tough Europa League quarter final coming up against Benfica and a difficult run in to the end of the season, Newcastle need Taylor to maintain the sort of form that got his manager talking about England.