Roy Hodgson believes there is no reason why his players should not have the 'confidence and self-belief' to cope with playing for England.
Coach calling on his players to handle the pressure at Euro 2012
Roy Hodgson believes there is no reason why his players should not have the 'confidence and self-belief' to cope with playing for England.
The so-called 'Golden Generation' has been unable to live up to expectations over the past decade, with England having not progressed beyond the quarter-final stage of a tournament since hosting Euro 96.
Expectations outside the squad for this summer's European Championship are as low as they have been for many years following Hodgson's late appointment as coach and the absence of several players due to injury.
However, while Hodgson admits that could ultimately be a positive thing, he wants his players to trust themselves in Poland and Ukraine.
Enormous pressure
When asked whether low expectations helped or hindered the squad, Hodgson said: "It's only a good thing.
"Football players are under enormous pressure. We, as coaches, put them under enormous pressure - we want a lot from them - because we can only succeed when they succeed.
"The nation puts them under pressure.
"I would expect the players to have confidence and self-belief and if they haven't, I'll be saying to them: 'Why haven't you got self-belief? If I was as good as you, I'd be very, very confident'."
Hodgson is relishing the start of England's campaign, which gets under way against France on Monday before further fixtures against Sweden and co-hosts Ukraine, but knows he will not be able to enjoy the tournament unless he is in charge of a winning side.
Determined
"I'm looking forward to it," he said. "I'm determined to enjoy it as best as we can. But of course to really enjoy it, you've got to win.
"There's very little enjoyment to be had in football when you're not winning and we all know that.
"We will try and do the best we can and if there's any allowances that need to be made then the public will make those allowances for us."
England are certainly among the underdogs, but Hodgson is motivated by Denmark's triumph in 1992 - when they competed in the tournament after UEFA decided to exclude Yugoslavia - and Greece's success eight years ago.
"Any team can win it," he added. "We've seen Denmark win it in 92 when they assembled the players off the beaches because they shouldn't have been there under the normal circumstances.
"We've seen Greece win it against all the odds when no one gave them a prayer at the start of the tournament. It's a football match and anything can happen."
