The start of a new Premier League season is here, and as always, a number of things never change. Hundreds of millions are being spent in the transfer market, Swansea are the bookies favourites for relegation, and after their worst World Cup showing in history, England pundits and fans alike are asking the same question as always – “What’s going wrong with the England team”.

Meanwhile, here in Swansea, no such questions are being asked after a perfect start from the Swans, and statistics Garry Monk could only have dreamt of. 4 wins out of 4 (including the cup win over Rotherham, and an opening day victory over Manchester United), 3 clean sheets at home, and sitting joint top of the league table with Chelsea. Early days, but you cannot ask for more than 4 straight victories.

And for the 20,000 fans packed into the Liberty on Saturday, a dominating and attractive win over West Brom warranted rightful acclaim. For those who could not get a ticket, and were instead watching via ‘Jeff and the boys’ on Soccer Saturday, further praise came from Matt Le Tissier. A prolific English striker himself in his career, he claimed that Nathan Dyer’s performances so far this season, along with 3 goals in 2 games, warranted a call up to the English National team.

For Swansea fans, this kind of mention is no real shock. For a number of years we have watched England announce squads, and despite strong arguments for the inclusion of the likes of Dyer, Routledge, Britton, and even Scott Sinclair and Danny Graham, who were regularly performing in the Premier League, they have never had a look in.

However, the real shock came in a follow up statement from Jeff Stelling. Since Roy Hodgson took charge of the England job in May 2012, there is only ONE premier league ground he has not attended to watch over prospective England players.

Any guesses? No prizes if you guessed right - it is, of course, the Liberty Stadium.

Let’s just put that in perspective. In 38 home Swansea matches, over the course of two seasons (not including cup games), he has failed to come to one, despite the likes of Dyer, Routledge and Britton proving themselves as consistent performers in the Premier league, and the 2012-2013 season seeing a cup victory and a number of scalps off top 4 teams. Not even to watch players from top four teams coming to play in SA1.

We should not be so foolish to criticise him for not picking Swansea players as first choice starters – but he has still had to pick larger squads for friendlies and the World Cup qualifying campaign, as well as the actual tournament itself. When Hodgson himself promised to pick players based on performances, and to freshen up the England team, it seems odd that our regularly performing Swans haven’t even had a friendly call up.

But their recent campaign in Brazil highlighted a number of issues. Firstly, the England squad look a long way from being able to compete with the other major footballing nations. Secondly, the strength in depth of the England national squad seems very poor. And, most importantly, in terms of footballing style, England seem to have fallen far behind the other major nations, and Hodgsons attempts at changing this do not seemed to have worked – possibly as their players simply cannot adapt to a different style of play.

And it is for this reason that the ignorance of Swansea and their English players is so damning. The arguments can be made that they are not players of the highest quality, but here are some simple truths. Dyer, Routledge and Britton have all proved themselves to be consistent performers in the premier league. And with their lack of squad depth, it is criminal that they are overlooked, even for preliminary squads. With Walcott constantly hampered by injury, and the likes of Sterling becoming more of a centre forward, there is definite space for Dyer and Routledge in the team.

The absence of Britton though, provides the greatest mystery. For years, it has been argued that Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard do not play well together, and do not reproduce their club form in an England shirt. Jack Wilshere has been their new hope in midfield for a number of years, yet injuries and poor performances had not proved this to be true. The less said about Tom Cleverly the better. England are desperate to play attacking, flowing football. They crave a central midfield player that can hold the ball, pass well, slow things down when necessary and bring some calm to their midfield, a Xavi or an Iniesta. It may have been tongue in cheek, but it was no coincidence little Leon was dubbed “The Mumbles Xavi”; he may not be on the same level, but Britton performs this role, and has performed it admirably for a number of seasons at the top flight.

Now we should be realistic, as there are a number of exceptional players all competing for an England shirt. Many will throw the names of Sterling, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Walcott, Lallana and Wilshere around, and argue at the idea that Swansea players have the skill or quality to justify starting ahead of them. And they could be right – it is a massive step up to international level, and a number of these players play for top four clubs at the highest level, in the Champions league and so on.

But this is not an argument of “Swansea players are the best and should be there”. And being overlooked is not a solely a problem that effects Swansea. Adam Johnson made his feelings know last year, after enjoying a fine start to the season with Sunderland, and finding himself without a call up in favour of top four favourites.

This is an argument of Swansea being overlooked with regards to what England are trying to achieve – desperate for success and to adapt an attractive style of football, the fact their national team manager hasn’t even viewed a home game of a team that has perfected that style in the premier league with English players is beyond reason. As Swansea fans, we are always mocked when we say we do not get the coverage and credit we deserve – if proof was needed that we are viewed differently in the Premier League, here it is.

And this isn’t just limited to players – there is always outcry when a new foreign owner buys a club, or a foreign manager is brought in. No young British managers are being given a chance. And yet the appointment of Garry Monk, an Englishman himself, was almost met with ridicule – “A man with no premier league coaching experience? Swansea must be mad”. Time will tell, but he hasn’t had a bad start.

With Barcelona and the Spanish national teams recent domination on all fronts of domestic and international footballers, the questions were asked; “What is their coaching and youth setup?”, “How can we bring players through like this?”, “How can England play this breathtaking brand of football?” Now, with Germanys World cup win, the focus has turned to them, asking all the same questions, in a bid to turn England into the next footballing powerhouse.

With this obsession with looking abroad, maybe the answer is a lot closer to home than they think.

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