Hodgson explains English absence

Reds boss admits other players are being 'pressed' by schedule

Last updated: 28th July 2010   Subscribe to RSS Feed

Hodgson explains English absence

Hodgson: Difficult conditions

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Liverpool manager Roy Hodgson believes it would have been 'folly' to include England players in his squad for Thursday's Europa League qualifier.

The Merseyside club face the arduous task of beginning their competitive campaign in July against FK Rabotnicki in a third qualifying round first leg, having only finished seventh in the Premier League last season.

It is a far from ideal situation for Hodgson, who succeeded Rafa Benitez earlier in the summer, as he has only recently welcomed back some players who took part in the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

England's summer captain Steven Gerrard and new signing Joe Cole have therefore not been included for the trip to Macedonia, while Jamie Carragher and Glen Johnson are also among the notable absentees.

Hodgson, who began last season with Fulham with a qualifier against Vetra Vilnius in July, explained his decision to omit the England quartet, saying: "We were never close to that (selecting England players) because they have only been training for four days.

"It would have been folly to try to play 90 minutes' football in an important competition in difficult conditions with players who have only been training for four days.

Ideal world

"We have pressed one or two players into service who were back one or two days earlier than that, but in an ideal world we would not have used any of the players that played in the World Cup.

"But, quite frankly, we are not in a strong enough position to do that."

Alberto Aquilani, Lucas Leiva, Sotirios Kyrgiakos, Martin Skrtel, Daniel Agger and David Ngog are among a handful of recognised senior players to have made the trip.

But want-away Javier Mascherano and Maxi Rodriguez, who returned to training this week, were also missing, while World Cup finalists Fernando Torres, Jose Reina, Ryan Babel and Dirk Kuyt are still on holiday.

Hodgson added: "All competitions are important to the season. It's the first competitive game I have been able to have with the club.

"It would have been nice if the game was played later and we were able to play what we feel is our strongest team, but we can't.

"But it is still a very important game and I hope the players we will give the confidence to play in this game and represent Liverpool will be able to do a good job."