Hodgson accepts lack of options

Rickie Lambert scored in his first ever England appearance last month
6 September 2013

Roy Hodgson will pin his World Cup hopes on Rickie Lambert at Wembley on Friday acknowledging the Southampton man's selection underlines the lack of options available to him.

With Wayne Rooney, Andy Carroll and Daniel Sturridge ruled out through injury, and Jermain Defoe lacking match sharpness after featuring for a total of 35 minutes in Tottenham's three Barclays Premier League games so far this season, Hodgson has been forced to place his trust in a 31-year-old who did not even make his Championship debut until two seasons ago.

For all the magical nature of Lambert's story, it underlines the paucity of attacking talent at Hodgson's disposal, which is why the England manager believes new Football Association chairman Greg Dyke's comments on Wednesday were pretty timely.

"I did see a funny headline about 'Hodgson brought back to dearth'," he said.

"We can't deny that, in certain positions, we have enormous competition and others where the competition is less.

"The final word on the debate that will rage: the bottom line is that maybe it is the right time to have this type of discussion. Let's see if there's something that can be done to make things better."

That is not to undermine Lambert, whose goal with his first touch on his debut against Scotland last month was a genuine good news story.

But Hodgson's reasons for selecting the Saints forward are not exactly promising.

"It's partly the fact Lambert turned up fully fit having played the three matches," he said.

"It was a straight choice between Lambert and Defoe.

"Jermain hasn't played and turned up with a slight injury. That swayed me to turn my attention to Rickie."

Much the same could be said of Kyle Walker, who gets the nod at right-back in the absence of Glen Johnson and Phil Jones.

And even in central midfield - arguably England's strongest position - there has to be some concern that Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard, 33 and 35 respectively, will also start on Friday a decade after the debate raged about whether they could play in the same side together.

"Is it a reflection on Frank and Steven that they're still playing?" Hodgson said.

"You can argue that, but they're under enormous pressure with their club sides too.

"They are playing at top clubs who are buying big players, but they haven't been able to knock these guys off their perch.

"We're not short of talent. But is this talent going to develop in the right way?

"Are we, in the England set-up, going to be able to give them the opportunity?

"It's one thing believing in talent, but selecting someone when they don't play for their club is not an easy thing to do.

"You open yourself up to all sorts of criticism."

And this is not the time to take risks.

For Hodgson's side go into Friday's game trailing Montenegro by two points - England do have a match in hand - and nurse only a two-point buffer over Ukraine, who they visit on Tuesday and still have San Marino to play twice.

"It's very important I rely heavily on the quality of the players we have," Hodgson said.

"In Frank and Steven we have two unbelievably good players with great experience."

Ashley Cole was named at left-back against Moldova ahead of Leighton Baines, with Phil Jagielka and Gary Cahill the centre-back partnership. Jack Wilshere lines up alongside Lampard and Gerrard in midfield, with Theo Walcott and Danny Welbeck joining Lambert in attack.

The nagging fear at the back of Hodgson's mind must be how England will fare in the three games immediately after Friday's.

England could require as many as seven points from those matches to be sure of automatic qualification for Brazil 2014.

Yet the first fixtures with the same teams yielded just three, with defeat against Ukraine last September only averted when Lampard stroked home a very late penalty.

"That was a year ago," Hodgson said. "We are a different team than we were then.

"We've not scored enough goals but I believe we have goals in us.

"Another thing we have to do is get back to something we were doing around with Euros, keeping a lot of clean sheets.

"In recent times, quite often, a goal has undone us and we've been behind, battled back and not been able to get two."

Yet, for all those worries, Hodgson retains total faith in his players to pull England through.

"I'm confident," he said. "Coaches are entitled to believe in their players, and I don't need to be cowed by figures from the past.

"I'm working with a good group of players who have the ability, the desire and the wish to do well.

"I fully believe they will."

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