Taylor deserves England spot, says Yanga-Mbiwa

Newcastle defender Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa believes Steven Taylor deserves to be called up to the England squad.

The pair produced a solid display in Newcastle’s Europa League last-16 win over Anzhi Makhachkala, and the January addition believes that Roy Hodgson should take notice of his defensive partner when picking the next England squad.

“I think he’s got every chance to get an international call-up and if he goes out and continues to play as well as he is week in and week out, then the international manager is going to see that,” Yanga-Mbiwa told the club’s website.

“I hope he will get a call-up so I can also say I’ve played alongside an international.

“Steven’s a fantastic player and it’s great to be alongside him. He’s someone who’s come up from within this club and he’s been a great player for this club.

“He knows the culture of the English game very well and he’s someone I try to listen to a lot and learn from a lot as well as bringing what I know from my experience in France to the partnership as well.”

Papiss Cisse’s stoppage-time winner against Anzhi was not the Yanga-Mbiwa’s first brush with late drama, having captained Montpellier to a Ligue 1 title in added time last season.

However, he says winning the tie in normal time was an added boost.

“When we won the championship with Montpellier, we did have a last-minute goal to take that for us so it was an exceptional moment,” Yanga-Mbiwa said.

“But this was fantastic for us and puts us into the quarter-finals, so hopefully we can go on from there.

“I’m very happy that we could win it in the 90 minutes. We had a great match and we fought really hard, so it’s nice to come away with the victory.

“Obviously the thought of extra-time does enter your head a little bit but as long as the match is still going on there’s a chance that you might get a goal.

“The match isn’t over so we’re very happy to have that chance.”