England manager Roy Hodgson insists the first back-to-back Wembley
defeats since 1977 is not a reason to panic.
Following Chile’s 2-0 friendly win on Friday, Germany beat England on
Tuesday, thanks to Arsenal defender Per Mertesacker’s first-half
header.
“There’s certainly no question of panic,” said Hodgson.
“If anything I’m much wiser, with regard to the players I’ve got at my
disposition and what we need to work on going into a tournament.”
Hodgson also argued that he has had “a great year” as England manager
– despite the two home losses.
“I’m not prepared to accept that two friendly defeats in which I have
used a lot of players in two tough games is going to take the shine
off what has been a very good year,” said Hodgson.
“It has been a great year for the Football Association on their 150th
anniversary and it’s been a great year for me because we have
qualified for the World Cup.
“We have achieved our goal and we have a lot to look forward to. I am
looking forward very much to 2014.”
England were jeered off at the final whistle for the second game in
succession after Tuesday’s defeat.
But Hodgson explained the two matches were a valuable exercise in
allowing him to view candidates to make up his squad for the World
Cup.
Having qualified for the finals unbeaten, Hodgson experimented with 25
players against Chile and Germany – handing debuts to Celtic’s Fraser
Forster as well as Southampton duo Adam Lallana and Jay Rodriguez.
Hodgson said: “You are always disappointed to get boos but there are
not many games when the home crowd don’t get the result they are
hoping for and there are no boos.
“If we want to get acclaim, we are going to have to play better and
win matches. We didn’t play well enough and we didn’t warrant that.”
“Of course they’re disappointed – they came to try and see us win the
game and we weren’t able to do so. But in the two games we used 20-odd
players and didn’t attempt to win them by putting our best 11 on the
field on both occasions.
“We tried to test a lot of players out and use these games as a chance
to learn more about squad.”
Hodgson’s major plus point was the performance of goalkeeper Joe Hart,
who was outstanding in defeat on his return to England’s side after
being rested against Chile – and following a run of indifferent form
that saw him dropped by Manchester City.
He said: “Joe Hart proved I was right about him. I thought Joe played
very well. He wasn’t snowed under with work because I thought the game
was quite even for large periods – but when he had to, he made saves.”
Hodgson admitted he was unhappy with England’s work in attacking
areas, saying: “Where Germany were superior was in the quality of
their passing and in their finishing around the final third. I thought
we let ourselves down in that area and that was a disappointment.
“The major disappointment was that we didn’t show the quality I was
hoping for.”
England have one more friendly – against Denmark on 5 March – before a
30-man provisional squad is announced on 13 May and cut to 23 on 2
June, with the World Cup starting on 12 June.
Hodgson suggested shock selections were now unlikely and ruled out a
return for Chelsea captain and centre-back John Terry, who retired
from international duty in September 2012.
Commentating on the Germany match for BBC Radio 5 live, former England
defender Danny Mills – a member of Football Association commission set
up to improve the national team’s long-term fortunes – repeatedly
called on Hodgson to bring Terry back.
Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho also believes Terry’s decision may have
been too hasty and it is understood the player himself would consider
a comeback were England to suffer an injury crisis and ask him.
But Hodgson confirmed: “We’ve moved on from that. John retired and
we’ve qualified with 10 matches unbeaten, with Gary Cahill and Phil
Jagielka, and we’ve seen a very good performance from Chris Smalling
tonight.
“It’s important we continue on those lines and continue looking
forward and that we don’t start panicking and looking backwards every
time we have a reverse.” – BBC Sport
