Roy Hodgson has insisted that he had little choice but to leave Wayne Rooney out of England’s penultimate Euro 2016 qualifier.
Advertisement
Regardless of the injury, the striker is expected to attend the final Wembley qualifier as he wants to pick up his commemorative golden boot for breaking Sir Bobby Charlton’s scoring record.
The front three – Harry Kane, Theo Walcott and Raheem Sterling – are a fast and flexible combination, a vibrant attacking unit that can outrun, and ultimately, overwhelm Estonia.
“I definitely feel there is a great deal of belief in the squad”, he said. Hodgson could not hide an instinctive celebration in the directors’ box at White Hart Lane during the Manchester City game last week, when Kane scored his first league goal of the season.
He also hit the net twice in his last England match, with the brace against San Marino taking him to seven strikes for his country. Walcott revealed how Thierry Henry has helped him develop this season as a central striker with master-classes at the Gunners’ training ground.
In Rooney’s absence, Chelsea defender Gary Cahill will take on captain duties for the Three Lions. When kickoff arrives, players will have to deal with the aftermath of the abuse the pitch has taken since the 2015 Rugby World Cup started in England. We’re talking about world-class level sport where there are other teams who prepare very well and their whole lives revolve around winning it. It’s hard, but it’s down to us.
“Michael Carrick trained fully and had quite an intensive training session on Wednesday, but he had a slight reoccurrence of a feeling that he gets sometimes in his groin, a slight tightening”, he said.
Walcott is getting there.
The England captain has been ruled out of the game with a knock he picked up while playing for Manchester United.
‘Theo has all the things an England player needs, but he’s had an bad lot of injuries, ‘ added Hodgson. What we’re asking him to do is what he does with Sanchez at Arsenal’.
“I don’t think anyone in the game would say a bad word about him”. If we don’t, we’ll have to start addressing a few of the issues that come from them. Spain are the same, and France and Holland are not too far off. If we can put in good performances in those four friendly games, that’ll give us heart.
“If he doesn’t, we’ll have to be alive with our thinking”.
‘We’re not deluding ourselves.
Advertisement
“I talk about the team”.
