Hodgson: Man Utd, Chelsea and Spurs aces weren’t in my plans in August

Friday, November 16, 2012
7:50 AM

England manager Roy Hodgson has admitted that Tom Cleverley, Daniel Sturridge and Steven Caulker were not in his plans at the start of the season.

It was in the aftermath of the Euro 2012 shoot-out defeat by Italy that Hodgson claimed revolution was in the air. At the time, few believed him.

After all, by his own admission Hodgson selected a “conservative” squad for Poland and Ukraine, which was in keeping with the no-frills approach his side adopted throughout the tournament.

Less than five months later, while not exactly presiding over an unrecognisable group of players, the serious injection of new faces is impossible to ignore.

“There’s a few I didn’t have in mind at the start of the season,” Hodgson said. “(Tom) Cleverley would come into that category, as would (Daniel) Sturridge and (Steven) Caulker.

“If anything, we have become a lot less conservative and the players have responded very positively.”