The England boss will have to reshuffle his Three Lions squad
England manager Roy Hodgson admits that England’s pre-European Championship warm-up fixtures could be hampered by the success of Liverpool and Manchester City in Europe.
Both Liverpool and City are in the semi-finals of the Europa League and Champions League respectively, and should they reach the final, some players will not be available to Hodgson for some of England’s three warm-up fixtures.
Liverpool could be in the May 21 final, while City’s ‘potential’ final could be a week later, and the FA Cup on the 18th could also prove problematic.
The Three Lions face Turkey on May 22, Australia on 27th before meeting Portugal on June 2, and Hodgson is awaiting the fate of these two sides, before deciding what sort of side he will face against their friendly opposition.
“It is going to be damaged by the potential games for which we are going to lose player,” Hodgson admitted.
“Certainly for the first game [against Turkey], our team will be decided for us to some extent by FA Cup, Champions League and Europa League finals. Let’s wait to see what happens there.”
Handing out opportunities
And Hodgson has hinted that due to the circumstances, players that haven’t been featuring so regularly for England, but that are likely to head to the Euros this summer, will be handed more game time.
“We do need, as was the case with the last two games, to make certain that some of the players that might not get a start – or who might not be on the first list of players to play against Russia in Marseille – get some football as well, and that we don’t just leave them there as permanent substitutes, permanent replacements.
“It will be a bit of a balance job and I think we will have to think on our feet and see who is fit. We are very pleased to have the players together so early, but we will have to start thinking about who needs a rest a bit more than another.
“These three matches are warm up matches, and our focus has got to be on that match [against Russia] on 11 June. The more we can get groups of players playing together that we want to play in the opening game, the better it will be – but it won’t be quite as easy as we’d like it to be, no doubt about that.”
With Hart potentially featuring in the Champions League final for City, it could be an opportunity for the England boss to give game time to his third choice ‘keeper, with Fraser Forster having featured for the Three Lions between the sticks in the past two friendlies.
