Source: Team_Talk
Allardyce: Nelson should quit NZ
lackburn Rovers manager Sam Allardyce has urged his skipper Ryan Nelsen to quit international football with New Zealand.[LNB] Nelsen is also captain of the All Whites team and returned from his last trip to the other side of the world with a thigh injury - though he should be fit to face Liverpool on Sunday.[LNB]Allardyce believes the 33-year-old should now consider calling it a day for New Zealand - especially after the high point of the All Whites' success in the World Cup when they were unbeaten.[LNB]Allardyce said: "I think he should consider it, I think he's done his job. He's had the pinnacle of his success and he's been the king of New Zealand football for many, many years now.[LNB]"His crowning glory was the World Cup being undefeated but playing football at this level is what he loves.[LNB]"If you want to play football at this level then give yourself the best opportunity to play it as long as you possibly can. We have seen many a player retire from international football who are a lot younger than him and extend their careers."[LNB]Nelsen missed Blackburn's 0-0 draw with Sunderland which Allardyce believes was partly due to the 24-hour plane journey back to England.[LNB]Allardyce added: "It's the distance he has to travel and you have to ask is he ever really ready, after travelling that distance, to play the next game in the hardest league in the world.[LNB]"It's a very difficult decision to make as a footballer. Playing for your country is every child's dream when you start playing football.[LNB]"It's a dilemma for me but I can't force his hand."[LNB]Nelsen should be a straight replacement for Chris Samba who is suspended for the match at Anfield. Liverpool are currently second from bottom but Allardyce believes Reds manager Roy Hodgson can turn things around if given the chance.[LNB]He said: "It's not just down to Roy Hodgson, it's the structure of the club as a whole, building the atmosphere back.[LNB]"I feel for Roy, he seems to be bearing the brunt of the blame. If he gets enough time he will get it right.[LNB]"All the pressure of the takeover and the money situation has obviously affected the team.[LNB]"There's a healthy atmosphere in a football club that you can feel that there's something great and it's building, and there's the opposite which has created a knock to that normal Liverpool feeling.[LNB]"It's one of the institutions of football made great by the late, great Bill Shankly and that has declined now, the feeling has been lost and it's a great shame, and that's what they must grasp back."[LNB]Keith Andrews (groin), Jason Roberts (ankle) and Vince Grella (hamstring) are all ruled out for Rovers.
