Tag: Hodgson

DANIEL STURRIDGE MAKES RETURN TO ENGLAND TRAINING CAMP

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Liverpool striker Daniel Sturridge makes his return to the training camp of England ahead of their Euro 2016 campaign, where they are seen among the favourites aside France, Germany and Spain.


The player didn’t join the warm up matches ahead of the continental tournament. He even missed the second successive warm up game of Three Lions when they defeated Australia on Friday by 2-1, having earlier defeated Turkey by the same margin.

The 26-year-old England international missed the games due to his calf injury concerns he sustained during the loss to Spanish opposition, Sevilla in the Europa League final. The head coach Roy Hodgson named the forward in his 26-man provisional team list that will prosecute the tournament much earlier this month after the final round of the Premier League matches. The tactician hoped to name his final pick on the 12th of May but eventually postponed it.

The list was eventually cut by one when Manchester City midfielder Fabian Delph was moved to the standby list after picking up an injury. Two players are also due to be removed to meet the final 23-man squad to play the tournament. The two players would likely be any of Jack Wilshere – mostly due to fitness concerns though he has done well in the warm up games, Marcus Rashford – despite his goal against Australia as there are enough options up front, Ross Barkley – due to a little drop in form, Andros Townsend and Danny Drinkwater – as there are options, aside Sturridge himself.  (more…)

Roy Hodgson believes that new Manchester City signing Raheem Sterling is Good for Success

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England manager Roy Hodgson believes that new Manchester City signing Raheem Sterling has what it takes to become a success for his new club and that he can live up to his £ 49 million transfer fee.

The former Liverpool winger has antagonised a lot of his supporters at his previous club mainly because of his desire to join City. The move, however, was not a smooth one since Liverpool were not interested in selling him. Sterling had to force his way out of Anfield and this meant a lot of public interviews against the club. As a result, the 20-year-old found himself at the backlash of many fans during the pre-season tour.

Hodgson, though, says that Sterling has enough quality to cope with the pressure that comes with a massive transfer fee his shoulders. The England international has become the most expensive player in City’s history – surpassing the likes of Sergio Aguero and Yaya Touré – and he has a lot to live up to. Sterling reportedly turned down a £ 100,000 per week offer from Liverpool in order to join City. His decision appears to have been made with the prospect of winning titles in mind. The massive wealth allows City to challenge for all trophies. (more…)

HODGSON WILL STAY

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Former Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp says that his England counterpart Roy Hodgson is still likely to be the national team boss of the Three Lions. Redknapp appears to be still aggrieved at the fact that he did not get the job despite being branded as the overwhelming favourite a few years ago.

Redknapp and Hodgson were direct contention for the England job just a few weeks after Fabio Capello had left the team in a dire state. The Italian left the role just a few months before the start of the Euro 2012. This meant that Hodgson, who became the eventual successor, did not have enough preparation time. (more…)

Roy Hodgson says that he has not closed the door on a return to international football

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Roy Hodgson says that he has not closed the door on a return to international football for striker Andy Carroll, who has been suffering for form and fitness ever since completing a permanent move to West Ham United.

The national team is currently rich with a long list of top strikers. The likes of Charlie Austin have also been knocking the door, which makes it extremely difficult for Carroll to return to the national team. The 26-year-old has managed only seven goals in the last two seasons. This form is not sufficient for him to be selected for the England team.

The national team is at a crucial stage whereby Hodgson has to come up with a strong team capable of winning the Euro 2016 or even reaching the latter stages. Doing well in this competition is extremely important for the national team due to their disappointing World Cup. England have had a strong set of results since the qualification campaign started. This, again, makes it difficult for Hodgson to bring the changes in the team. The former Liverpool striker has managed to appear in nine internationals for England, but he has managed only two goals in these matches. His last goal for England was in 2012. (more…)

HODGSON BACKS STURRIDGE

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Roy Hodgson has stated that he expects Daniel Sturridge to be a decisive player for England over the next few years because the Liverpool striker has the talent to succeed at international level. After a few years at several clubs like Manchester City and Chelsea, Sturridge finally seems to have come of age since joining Liverpool. He has scored almost one goal game in this Premier league season and it has prompted Hodgson to include him for the final friendly match against Denmark on Wednesday. The 24-year-old repaid the manager’s faith by scoring a late goal to give England the victory.

After the match, Hodgson said that Sturridge has no reason to think why he can reach 50 caps for England and when he does so, he should think about 100 caps for the national team. The former Liverpool manager believes that the striker has what it takes to succeed at international level as well. He has had an enormous partnership with Luis Suarez at Liverpool, but against Denmark, he showed that he is good enough to score goals when he is playing without the Uruguayan alongside him. Sturridge is almost certain to be on the plane for Brazil 2014. He could be joined by several other Liverpool players as well.

“He should be looking at 50 caps and, when he has his 50, look at 100 because he’s got the talent. He’s hardly played for England. We’ve been very unlucky with Daniel. Since he’s gone to Liverpool, he’s done very, very well. But quite often, when we’ve had matches, we’ve been unlucky he’s not been available through injury. In my 25 games Daniel hasn’t featured anywhere near as often as I would like. Now, I’m hoping, in the next 25 he’s going to feature a lot,” said Hodgson about the future of Sturridge at international level.

STARS SHOULD PLAY

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England manager Roy Hodgson has said that he wants his stars to be available for the friendly matches against the Republic of Ireland and Brazil at the end of the season. England will be playing against Ireland in the final week of May, while Brazil will be the opponents at the iconic Maracana stadium in Brazil just before the start of the Confederations cup. There have been growing concerns about the number of matches that players have been playing in recent months. As a result, a number of the high profile players have pulled out of recent friendly matches.

Hodgson does not want a repeat of this situation ahead of the crucial matches. He has said that the stars should not excuse themselves from the friendly matches if they want to be part of the England team. A number of the top teams from England will be having international commitments as part of their promotions. They are unlikely to be happy with losing their star players for meaningless friendly matches. Hodgson has been facing criticism from the media after a number of poor performances since he has taken over.

Hodgson’s team have been able to win only against minnows like San Marino and Moldova. They are currently second in the group stages.

“We didn’t win in Monte-negro because we didn’t retain possession and dominate the midfield in the second half as well as we did in the first 45 minutes. It’s no more complicated than that. But our ball retention wasn’t too bad against San Marino or in our previous game against Brazil, so I refuse to accept that because we didn’t play so well for 45 minutes, that it’s suddenly all about ball retention. Every time a team has a period when they don’t play to the very high levels of expectations,” said Hodgson.

HODGSON CONFIDENT

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England are currently second in the World Cup qualifying group, but the manager Roy Hodgson has said that he is extremely confident that he will be top of the group by the end of the campaign. He has also said that he will settle for nothing less than winning the group. Hodgson said a few weeks ago that he believes that England have the ability to win the World Cup for the first time since 1966. The arrival of new players like Jack Wilshere and Danny Welbeck has rejuvenated the England team, which has suffered several exits in high-profile competitions at early stages.

England once again showed their renewed confidence in the recent friendly match against Brazil. Despite coming up against the five-time world champions, England played a lot of good football throughout the match. They also managed to win the match 2-1, which was their first victory over Brazil in more than two decades. This run of good results has led to the manager saying that he believes England will be able to win the group comfortably. The World Cup qualifying matches for England will resume with away trips against San Marino and Montenegro in the month of March.

Montenegro have made a great start to the World Cup qualifying campaign.”We are trying to win the group. What I might have said is if we don’t win the group, we will try and win the play-offs. But there is no question of us taking a play-off route. We were the top seeds in the group. We are seeded to win it. It doesn’t always happen of course. All teams like ourselves accept the responsibility and will do our best,” said Hodgson. England, though, have had just two victories in the last five matches in all competitions under Roy Hodgson.

HODGSON CREATES CODE

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Roy Hodgson is to create a code of conduct that he expects his players to stick to during the European Championships. The FA will help him compile the document which will outline their expectations of the players along with the warning that anyone caught breaking it will be putting their England future in jeopardy.

Hodgson’s expectations were simple and clear enough. “Not only do I expect them to behave as adults, I am going to demand it.” He has pointed to the controversy that surrounded the England Rugby Union team on their recent World Cup campaign. A disappointing display on the field was made all the more frustrating by a series of incidents off the pitch.

England will be staying close to the centre of Krakow and Hodgson realises that his players are going to be coming into contact with members of the public on a regular basis and they will be under constant observation from fans of all competing nations. The 2010 World Cup saw England staying out in Rustenburg, two hours outside of the nearest major city of Johannesburg after criticisms of their behaviour in the more central base of Baden Baden in 2006 – Wayne Rooney‘s wife Colleen was blamed the most.

Hodgson has stressed that he does not intend to keep his players locked up or stop them from enjoying the experience of visiting a country that many of them will have not experienced before. He is stressing the importance of them behaving well when they are out and about, he is fully aware that people with camera phones will be everywhere, ready to capture any misdemeanours on camera to pass on to the world’s press.

Hodgson is keen to give his players freedom to enjoy themselves, to stay relaxed and to “see something else other than their room-mates, me and the coaching staff” during their down time. Captain Steven Gerrard agreed with the new code.