European Qualifiers: England boss Roy Hodgson has fully-fit squad to face San Marino
Wednesday 8 October 2014 18:03, UK
Roy Hodgson has given his England squad a clean bill of health, but he has delayed naming his line-up for Thursday's European qualifier against San Marino.
Aston Villa midfielder Fabian Delph had been an injury concern after picking up a minor knock in the defeat to Manchester City at the weekend, and he was held out of Tuesday's training session as a precaution.
But he was cleared to return to full training on Wednesday, and Hodgson was delighted that everyone in his 21-man squad took part.
"We’ve been lucky," said the England boss. "We spared Fabian training on Tuesday because he took a knock at the weekend, but he trained fully today and we’ve been fortunate to have all the players we selected in training."
Hodgson decided to name his team for last month's win in Switzerland earlier than usual, but he is keeping his plans under wraps for Thursday's Group E clash and has yet to inform his players of his starting side.
"I’d rather not this time," he said when asked for clues about his team. "I think it’s important we take the game very seriously. Training has been excellent and everyone is anxious to play. But I haven’t actually told the team what my plans are, so I couldn’t possibly announce it."
Hodgson insisted he would not be making "wholesale changes" to his line-up despite San Marino being the world's joint-lowest ranked international side, but the England boss hinted that he was keen to get his fringe players involved at Wembley.
"We are keen to keep the momentum going," he added. "I think the players who played against Norway and against Switzerland did a good job and deserve a further confidence.
Competition
"But on the other hand there are a lot of players who are knocking on the door and would like to get into the team and I've got to weigh the two things very carefully.
I think that the players I select tomorrow will be anxious to play at the highest of their levels. That should be difficult for a team like San Marino to live with.
"Keeping the team together but maybe also using at least one of these two games as a chance to see somebody else play.
"I think that the players I select tomorrow will be anxious to play at the highest of their levels. That should be difficult for a team like San Marino to live with if we reach that goal and I think that that will lead to us scoring goals.
"But quite frankly, I don't think that the qualification this time around is going to hang on goal difference anyway."
Hodgson also denied he had any issues of bullying in the dressing room in the wake of the controversial allegations from former England cricketer Kevin Pietersen that continue to dominate the sporting headlines.
"I've been very lucky in the two years or so that I've had the privilege of leading the team. I must say I've haven't noticed any problems like that," he said.
"I'm not particularly patting myself on the back or anyone on the back because dressing rooms can be very difficult places.
"We haven't had that problem, we work very hard not to have that problem and we are working very hard at the moment to make sure that we are all singing off the same hymn sheet, that we are taking ownership of what we're trying to do."
