Roy Hodgson has launched a spiky and impassioned defence of his England players, arguing they do not deserve the criticism that is coming their way and accusing the media of exaggerating the team’s deficiencies in light of what happened in the World Cup.
Hodgson, as angry as at any time in his England tenure, spoke out in response to the reaction to the 1-0 defeat of Norway at Wembley and was particularly annoyed at having to answer a question about the fact his team had managed only two shots on target, describing the statistic as “fucking bollocks”. The England manager believes the disappointments of the summer have led to unfair analysis, adding to the negativity swirling around a team whose first game since the World Cup was played in front of a half-empty stadium, with their lowest crowd since Wembley reopened in 2007.
England’s performance has led to scrutiny of Hodgson’s decision to revert to a 4-4-2 system and the form of Wayne Rooney, who scored the decisive goal from the penalty spot but has started the season slowly.
Hodgson believes the striker struggled with the pressures of being the team’s new captain, something Louis van Gaal has also said at Manchester United, but the national team manager was still aggrieved about what he perceived to be undue negativity.
“I am entitled to (be annoyed), aren’t I? When you have questions like: ‘You had only two shots on target ...’ We can’t get rid of the baggage, we can’t change the fact we had a bad World Cup, we can’t play those games against Italy and Uruguay again, but I think you will have to give me the entitlement at least.
“If we had played badly, if a lot of players had had really poor performances, if the quality of our passing and our movement was nothing like I wanted to see and if our defending wasn’t as compact, aggressive and organised as it was for large periods, I would be the first to say so. But I am not going to say it’s not that, just because we had a bad World Cup. You have seen an England team dominate for 45 minutes against a good opponent. You have seen us work very hard to create chances, you have seen players get in behind defenders in wide areas and miss crosses and, yes, I am not terribly happy about that. I would have liked the crosses to be a little bit better. I would have liked two of three of those shots to get past the blocking player and whizz past the goal. I would have liked Daniel Sturridge’s magnificent effort, from that wonderful (Raheem Sterling) pass, not to land on the roof of the net.
“I saw a 10-to-15-minute period in the second half when I thought we were nowhere near what I wanted to see. I thought we lost the aggression in our defending and we didn’t attack anywhere near as well. Joe had to make a good save from a corner, and Norway almost scored again from a Gary Cahill back pass. But we saw a different system then. We changed it and I saw some very positive moments.
“John Stones, who has played hardly any games recently for Everton, stepped out at right-back and gave a very strong performance and when Chambers came on he did well, too. Henderson and Wilshere, in my book, were excellent. Delph came in to play his first game and showed some very good things going forward and, of course, Sturridge was excellent throughout. All I’m saying is I want to judge every game as it is.
“Welbeck came on and showed his potential, so there were a lot of good things but the bottom line is this: before the World Cup, with all the euphoria, we were getting 75,000 people to see us play Peru. Now we have 40,000 to see us play against a much more difficult opponent. I can’t put that right because I can’t turn the clock back, but what I can do is analyse what I have seen and judge that through my eyes and not because someone is telling me: ‘Well, you had only two shots at goal’ because, for me, that is absolute fucking bollocks, I’m sorry.”
Hodgson, who has arranged for the psychiatrist Dr Steve Peters to talk to his squad St George’s Park on Fridyay as they prepare for England’s first Euro 2016 qualifier in Switzerland on Monday, went on to cite some of the players who were missing through injury.
Jack Colback and Ben Foster have both had to withdraw and Hodgson has decided not to bring in replacements before the team fly to Basel.
“The fact of the matter is that we haven’t got many more. There are four or five very good players who are not here through injury: Chris Smalling and Luke Shaw in defence, and Ross Barkley and (Adam) Lallana in central midfield. There is Jon Flanagan, who we like and hope to see back soon, and of course the longer-term injuries with (Jay) Rodriguez.
“I am talking to people here who have followed England for many years, and follow the Premier League every week, and there is no chance of pulling wool over the eyes of people who know what top-class players look like. But I will continue to say, so long as they continue to give performances like that, some of these players are top, top players in the making. But they are players in the making. You can’t play five games for England, be a regular in the Liverpool team for six or seven months, and be David Beckham. You can’t come in like Phil Jones after all the injuries and nail down a place in the central defence of Manchester United and become John Terry. You can’t be Jack Wilshere, who has lost all that football through injury, and all of a sudden be Bryan Robson.
“Let’s be fair about these things, that is all I am asking. But also, allow me to be excited by what they can do and allow me when they do play well to stand in front of an assembled press conference and say: ‘I think they did well’ even though there might be some cynicism out there. Maybe it wasn’t as good (as you wanted), fine. That is up to you, just as long as you don’t expect me to go down the same route.”
