Roy Hodgson will not be ditching his senior England stars and risk repeating the mistakes which cost Andre Villas-Boas his job at Chelsea.
England boss won't repeat the mistakes made by Villas-Boas
Roy Hodgson will not be ditching his senior England stars and risk repeating the mistakes which cost Andre Villas-Boas his job at Chelsea.
Villas-Boas, who is now in charge of Tottenham, paid the price for attempting to oversee an overhaul of an ageing playing staff during an ill-fated spell in charge at Stamford Bridge.
Hodgson insists he will not be adopting a similar approach as he attempts to guide England to the 2014 World Cup.
He has included John Terry, Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard in his latest squad, despite being aware that all three will be well into their 30s by the time football's elite descend on Brazil.
Hodgson, though, cares little for numbers and maintains that he will continue to select those players he believes are the best available.
He said "Terry and Lampard are bad examples because, when he took over at Chelsea, Andre Villas-Boas decided that was the way he would go, or was advised to by the owner.
Quality
"Yet they were eventually the players who came back and won the Champions League.
"I want to win football matches and I won't be prepared to throw players of that quality away from the national team until I am sure there are much better players to take their place.
"That's not happening at their clubs at the moment.
"They are not only features but are very important members of their club teams and when they don't play their club teams miss them enormously."
Hodgson has also reiterated his full support of Terry, a man who still has an FA charge hanging over him following an altercation with Queens Park Rangers defender Anton Ferdinand in October 2011.
"Some people criticise him, some champion him," said the Three Lions coach.
Influence
"I have no interest in that debate.
"I'm told I can pick the team I want to pick, he is available to be selected. The other aspect of things will take its course and has no influence at all in my thinking."
Having been given license to select whoever he wants, Hodgson has also made it clear that he will continue to call upon the likes of Chelsea forward Daniel Sturridge and Manchester United striker Danny Welbeck even if they are not guaranteed regular first team football at club level.
"I intend to be pragmatic about this," he said.
"Of course I would prefer players to be regular members of their club teams.
"But if I'm picking these type of players who are 21 and competing with world stars, I might just have to accept they won't be playing every week because their coach prefers Fernando Torres, Sergio Aguero or Robin van Persie."
