England Supporters Club

Roy Hodgson: England 'incredible' in training

Posted by Team England at 11:06 on Thursday 09 October 2014

England manager Roy Hodgson is not planning major changes to his side to face San Marino at Wembley Stadium on Thursday night.

The visitors are one of the lowest-ranked teams in the world, but Hodgson says the players who did so well for him against Switzerland last time out deserve the chance to maintain their winning momentum.

He revealed his entire 21-man squad had trained after Fabian Delph returned to action following a slight knock and said: “I'd rather not discuss the line-up as it's important to take the game seriously.

“The players have prepared vigorously and training has been excellent. I haven't noticed any difference in preparation for this game and the next one [against Estonia on Sunday] than what we did against Switzerland.

“I have not told the team my plans yet so I couldn't possibly announce it now.

“I'm not planning wholesale changes and I would like to keep that momentum going from the last match and the players who did a good job against Switzerland deserve further confidence.

“But there are a lot of players knocking on the door and would like to get into the team, so I might use one of these two games to see one or two others play.

“I'm tempted to do a few things after watching some incredible performances in training after the last few days.

“Players looked very sharp and focused and I know when I announce the team there will be one or two disappointed faces because everyone has been working so hard to get their way into the team.”

Hodgson, however, warned his players and the team's supporters not to expect too easy a match.

The Three Lions coach explained: “I don't want to say the cliche that we just want to score one more goal than them or that it will be easy to score lots of goal, but I think the players will want to play to the highest of their levels and that should be difficult for a team of San Marino's level.

“I don't think qualification will hang on goal difference so the most important thing will be how we play.”