Skip to content

European Qualifiers: No Sturridge rift with Liverpool, says England boss Roy Hodgson

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

Roy Hodgson says Daniel Sturridge was not selected for England as he wasn't fit, and not because there was pressure from Brendan Rodgers

England boss Roy Hodgson insists there is no dispute with Liverpool over Daniel Sturridge after leaving the striker out of his squad.

Sturridge has been sidelined since injuring his thigh on England duty at the start of September which led to public complaints from Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers about his handling when with the national team.

Although the 25-year-old is nearing fitness and may feature for Liverpool in Saturday's Premier League match against West Brom, Rodgers made it clear he did not want Sturridge taking part in the Group E games against San Marino at Wembley on October 9 and Estonia in Tallinn three days later and the England coach has heeded that request.

There's no problems or conflict there at all. As I understand it, he (Sturridge) has still got some work to do before he's fully fit. There was no question of him being selected.
Roy Hodgson

Hodgson, who also called up Southampton's Nathaniel Clyne and Swansea's Jonjo Shelvey, said: "It’s just simply a fact, an unfortunate fact, that Sturridge has not recovered.

"We were hoping he’d recover in time but he hasn’t. It's a great blow to us, Liverpool and the player, because he was very anxious to be a part of these two games. Unfortunately it’s happened and we all accept it.

"There's no problems or conflict there at all. He's not played for Liverpool at all since picking up the injury with us. As I understand it, he's still got some work to do before he's fully fit. There was no question of him being selected."

The England boss also denied suggestions that the Liverpool forward's injury shows there are problems with the national side's training regime, although he said it is something they will consider.

More from European Qualifiers

"We're very disappointed about it but it's obviously something we will consider going forward," he added.

"But the other thing people do need to consider is that we have such a shortage of time and on this particular occasion we had two days to try and hone a very different way of playing.

"Strangely enough, Danny was a very important part of that because we wanted him and Wayne Rooney to play as split strikers and he had a lot of experience of playing that from his Liverpool time, so it was very unfortunate.

"But if I'm going to be put under pressure in future to give every player two days off every time we play, then we won't train at all quite frankly, because we don't have enough time pre-match and post-match for recovery."

Around Sky