6 – Phil Jagielka is the sixth captain named by Roy Hodgson during his tenure – after Gerrard, Lampard, Cahill, Rooney and (Ashley) Cole.
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Followers of England will know Hodgson is not a man for hyperbolic statements about young players coming through the ranks.
It will be the first time the Everton centre-back has captained his country.
Jagielka added: “We still have a strong squad here”.
Although Walcott was understandably keen to strike a cautionary note given England’s habit of underachieving at major tournaments he also insisted Hodgson and the players deserve credit for recovering from the shattering blow of crashing out of the World Cup at the group stages. For all your preparation, for all your work, if you get there, play brilliantly in the first game but lose it 1-0 to a dodgy penalty, you’re a disaster.
The England boss revealed that Joe Hart, Gary Cahill and James Milner would all not be travelling for the Three Lions’ next Euro 2016 Qualifying match on Monday, whilst Wayne Rooney and Michael Carrick would still be missing from the squad due to injury.
Pressure falls upon Shelvey to catch the eye, therefore, because however much Hodgson wants to play a full strength side against A-list opposition next month, he is realistic enough to know that may not be the case.
Jagielka, 33, will earn his 37th cap against the Baltic nation.
The build-up has been low key though Hodgson briefly bristled when it was suggested he has tossed caps around like confetti – Tottenham teenager Dele Alli being the latest beneficiary with a cameo against Estonia reward for only a handful of Premier League appearances – and denied playing for England has been devalued. We have spoken about the (artificial) surface – yeah, it will be different, but a lot of us have trained or even played on similar surfaces. “Now we are going to concentrate on a core group who, if they’re all fit, will be with us in France”, Hodgson said.
England manager Roy Hodgson has played down concerns over Lithuania’s artificial pitch as his team attempt to complete a ideal qualifying campaign for the 2016 European Championship on Monday.
“It won’t be a moment to give someone a chance because he’s scored a goal on a Saturday”.
Wilshere is expected back in the new year, Hodgson said, which means that he will make the friendlies against Germany and Holland but not those, in November, against Spain and France.
“We want to make it 10”.
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“We were hoping that we’d have qualified by that time, and we are, so there’s no reason to complain about it”.
