HODGSON REJECTS CRITICISMS

The manager of the England national football team, Roy Hodgson, doesn’t feel that his decision to include the Liverpool player Daniel Sturridge in the starting XI for the friendly match against Germany was a wrong one and he has made it clear that he is not going to apologize for that.

Sturridge was actually not 100% fit before that game against Germany. He was struggling with an injured thigh, but, despite that, Hodgson started with him and kept him on the ground for the entire game.

The Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers was clearly not happy with that and he asked Sturridge to sit on the sidelines in the game against Everton as he felt that the 24 years old striker was not fit enough to take part in that game.

Hodgson praised Sturridge for giving his nation more importance than his club. Talking to the reporters yesterday, the England manager said, “It was great to see that Daniel went out there despite having a bit of niggle.”

“He has missed a lot of games because of injury problems. So, I just wanted to examine his determination. May be, it was wrong, but, sometimes, you have to do these sort of things as a manager and that’s why I am not going to make apologies.”

“And, I was glad to see that he was quite determined. May be, he was not completely fit, but, because of the determination that he showed that day, he has now become one of my trusted players.”

These statements of Hodgson suggest that he is quite impressed by Sturridge and one should not raise his eyebrows if he names the Liverpool forward in his squad for the World Cup finals which are just a few months away.

Sturridge has already had 9 Premier League goals under his belt this season.