Hodgson insists his rising stars are not hopeless

The manager has hit back at the idea that England’s international football is in the doldrums.

It was a pretty miserable summer for England’s age-group teams.

But the national manager enjoyed an uplifting week, as the senior team beat Scotland, while he also led the Under-21s to a thumping win over their Scottish counterparts.

It was in marked contrast to events in June.

The Under-21s went out of their European Championships at the group stage.

The Under-20 side followed suit at the World Cup not long after both sides without winning a match.

Those poor performances left many critics worrying about the talent pool for the senior team in years to come.

But Hodgson was impressed by what he saw from the Under-21s in the short time he worked with them at St George’s Park.

“Those few days working with a really big group of players has given me a very good feeling as regards the future,” he says.

“I’m still an enthusiastic football coach, and it gave me a couple of days with an interesting and receptive group of players.

“We do have talent. The Under-21s played superbly against Scotland, and some of those players really surprised me.

“It might have opened a few doors for them and it certainly made us think twice.

“OK, it wasn’t the full team at Wembley in front of 80,000 people, but you’d like to think they could do it on a higher stage.”

Hodgson took charge of the Under-21s at Bramall Lane last Tuesday as there is no manager in place following the decision not to renew Stuart Pearce’s contract.

He left after six years in the job following the failure at the European Under-21 Championships in Israel.

The former England left-back has since been critical of the players’ attitude during the tournament, and feels he was hamstrung by not being able to pick the best possible players.

Pearce also suggested that players should only move up to the full team once they have served out their time in age-group football.

But Hodgson insists the priority is, and always will be, the well-being of the senior team.

“Under-21 tournaments are for the development of players. That has been accepted by everyone over the years,” he states.

“I would defy anyone to name the last four winners of the Under-20 and Under-21 Championships.

“Suddenly, when these tournaments come up and we don’t win them, we’re hopeless.

“In actual fact, a lot of the good age-group players are helping the senior team. And it’s the senior team that counts above all.

“There were players missing from the Under-21s, but only through injury. They weren’t missing because they had gone to the senior team.

“The only player who could have gone was Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and he came with us to Brazil and scored.

“The FA may decide to set up a policy, but it would be breaking the mould.

“In my experience, I’ve never seen England choose players to win an Under-21 tournament, and not use them in the senior team when they’re ready for it.

“Look at Gary Neville. He played countless times for England, but he never played one Under-21 match.”