I won't resign, says Hodgson after England shocker

[Jonathan Fairfield]

I won't resign, says Hodgson after England shocker

BEN STANSALL / AFP

England boss Roy Hodgson Thursday said he had no intention of resigning despite steering his team to the brink of their worst World Cup performance in 56 years -- insisting the future was bright.

But the "devastated" coach conceded his employers the Football Association could rethink his position following his team's devastating 2-1 loss to Uruguay in Sao Paulo.

"I'm bitterly disappointed, of course, but I don't feel I need to resign, no," 66-year-old Hodgson told British broadcaster ITV. "On the other hand, if the FA think I'm not the right man to do the job..."

Hodgson said Luis Suarez's late winner, his second goal of the night, was an "unbelievable blow" after England worked their back into the game with a Wayne Rooney equaliser.

"We believed we could do enough to get a result in this game. Having worked so hard to get back to 1-1 I believed we would go on to win the game or at least draw, so to concede the second goal is an unbelievable blow. I don't really know what to say at this time.

"We are more than disappointed, we're devastated."

Hodgson said he was also taken aback by the manner of Uruguay's winner, which came when a speculative ball from goalkeeper Fernando Muslera skidded off Steven Gerrard's head and into the path of Suarez.

"It was a goal we don't expect to concede. Long goal kicks with the type of players we have in the team, we deal with them," Hodgson said.

England also lost their Group D opener 2-1 to Italy, leaving them relying on the Azzurri beating Costa Rica on Friday to keep their hopes alive in the competition.

- 'Unbelievably slim' -

A stony-faced Hodgson admitted England's chances of staying in the World Cup were "unbelievably slim" as they face their first exit at the group stage in a World Cup since 1958.

The downbeat England boss said his team managed to keep Suarez, who was returning from knee surgery, quiet for long periods but Gerrard's late error let him in for the winner.

"We're normally used to seeing him a lot more active around the penalty area than we saw today.

"The second goal as you probably saw was an unfortunate flick off Steven Gerrard's head which put him free with the goalkeeper. And when he comes free with the goalkeeper he doesn't miss from that area.

"Ideally your only plan to deal with that would be to make certain that you don't allow the flick to put him through and free with the goalkeeper."

Hodgson added: "Two chances came his way and as the top player he is, he took both chances -- and probably ended our chances of staying in the competition."

But the manager was upbeat about England's future, pointing to his crop of young players.

"I believe the team going forward will be a very good team," he said.

"Results colour everything. We played against a very tough tackling, strong defensive Uruguayan team but I don't think we need to have any doubts that this England team, this group of players will do some good things in time."

Goalkeeper Joe Hart spoke of his respect of Hodgson, despite the disappointing results in Brazil.

"I'm proud to play for Roy Hodgson," he said. "He's a great manager. He's a very passionate man."

-- (c) Copyright AFP 2014-06-20

[jellydog]

Dead man walking.

[casualbiker]

I think they were from the start .. a huge shake up needs to happen!

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[masterpasser]

Hodgson has no honour - He walked out of Fulham into the Liverpool job - His tenure at Liverpool was a failure , but he refused to resign so they had to sack him - with the associated payoff package.

After another failure ( what has he ever achieved??????????) He is lining himself up for a another payoff from the FA.

An ex PT master that played park football <deleted>

[smokie36]

I don't think the FA should sack him.

I'm sure BIGTOE would agree with me....England need STABILITY.

[StevieH]

of course he won't resign, that would mean forgoing his seven-figure payoff for being completely crap at his job.

[Chonburiram]

I hope he will be Englands coach until his late 80's...

[Thaddeus]

Should never been given the job in the first place.

[Jip99]

Should never been given the job in the first place.

I would like to see your short list of 5....................

[StevieH]

Should never been given the job in the first place.

pretty major lack of alternatives though. particularly given the seeming insistence on england's manager being english.

[thumper101]

He has done the best with what he has to work with.

Really, the second goal was a fluke setup, the ball just landed very sweet for him and he took his chance and pulled off the winner. That can happen at any level of football and against any team.

England have also been unlucky with the group draw, to face two top ten seeded teams... the only team in the competition where that is the case.

I don't think it is beyond reality that England can get out of the group.

All it requires is that Italy beats both Costa Rica and Uruguay... That is not above reality... then we only need to beat Costa Rica.

Uruguay are still minus one goal difference, only one goal better than England's. If they get beat by Italy by just one goal, that puts them on the same GD as England going into England's last fixture with arguably the weakest side in the group on paper (despite their shock win over Uruguay).

If Italy only beat Costa Rica tonight by one goal, then that put Costa Rica's GD at plus one. So England will need to win by 2 clear goals next week.... not impossible, if they find their form, or play like they did against Italy last week, they should get that comfortably. If Italy win tonight by 2 or more goals, then England only need to win 1-0 because the GD would be the same and that means it goes on the result of the game between the two teams.

I think Italy are capable of beating both Uruguay and Costa Rica.

Of course, all it takes is a draw in any of the fixtures and England are out... so come on Italy.

So it's not in our hands totally, but on paper, if you went from the form book, then you would have to say that if all the most likely scenarios play out, then England should qualify.

How many times have England pulled off the great escape???.... Come on.... We are used to watching England always have to do it the hard way.

[stevenl]

England have also been unlucky with the group draw, to face two top ten seeded teams... the only team in the competition where that is the case.

How about Ghana and the USA?

Those rankings are not worth very much anyway.

[StevieH]

"He has done the best with what he has to work with."

is that a criticism of the standard of players he has at his disposal or a comment on his own incredibly limited managerial abilities?

[Chicog]

"He has done the best with what he has to work with."

is that a criticism of the standard of players he has at his disposal or a comment on his own incredibly limited managerial abilities?

Bit of both innit.

[losworld]

England looked very out of sync to me. They kicked when they should have passed and passed when they should have kicked. They appeared to be rushing the play early in the game and not setting up properly. Fundamentally not solid either. They looked poorly coached.

What do you want from a guy with a bad hairpiece? Rooney take note lol.

[StevieH]

"He has done the best with what he has to work with."

is that a criticism of the standard of players he has at his disposal or a comment on his own incredibly limited managerial abilities?

Bit of both innit.

most of these players have shown lots of evidence that they're really capable at the highest level. there's practically no evidence of hodgson being a good manager at the highest level.

[Guitar God]

I thought a "shocker" was "Two in the pink, one in the stink." I'm not seeing where this applies here.

[RichBKK]

He's not going anywhere

And it has nothing to do with his ability (or lack of) as a top class manager

Firstly the FA, I wouldn't trust them to organise a chimps tea party, let alone pick another manager and secondly why do we have the FA cup semis and no end of concerts etc played at wembley? Answer, they are still in hock over the new wembley stadium and they won't be paying up the hodge's contract

They wouldn't know where to look. And to be fair there ain't much out there and the job isn't the draw it once might have been. A well renumerated retirement home for a decorated mercenary or a 'lets hope for the best' gig for a mediocre native

Pity as think the new generation of players have reasonable technique and less of the egos of their predecessors. But they ain't gonna do jack with this owl

[Thaddeus]

Should never been given the job in the first place.

I would like to see your short list of 5....................

I'd have difficulty coming up with one my friend, if they had to be English.

[StevieH]

redknapp, allardyce and bruce. after that you're into the lower divisions and guys like nigel clough.

[transam]

Should never been given the job in the first place.

I would like to see your short list of 5....................

We have no short list of 5, we do not have a short list of English players. English hi-so teams are not really manned by the English, so, where do you pick anyone to do any job in English WC football..?

[thumper101]

England have also been unlucky with the group draw, to face two top ten seeded teams... the only team in the competition where that is the case.

How about Ghana and the USA?

Those rankings are not worth very much anyway.

Sorry .... my mistake on that one.

But my main point is that I don't think it is as lost as Hodgson is making out.

I don't think he should be sacked on England's performance against two very good sides.... I think England supporters, The UK media and the FA expect too much from what I would consider a pretty scrap team.

But what I do think, is that if anything he should be sacked for making negative comments about England's chances. That sort of attitude just rubs off on the players leading up to a crucial fixture.

He should be inspiring confidence, and with so many young players, this can backfire on him. They need their confidence boosted, not bashed.

If the bookmakers odds are anything to go by in the remaining games, then England should qualify.

But like I said... It only takes one draw and they are going home early.

[SantiSuk]

Dead man walking.

. He should stay. Alternatives are zombies, foreign or ethically flawed ('Arry)

[SantiSuk]

No way will England qualify - he's just being realistic.

Italy will beat Costa Rica tonight. If they don't we go out anyway. If Italy beat Costa Rica their goal difference will be significantly better than that of Uruguay (4 goals minimum) and Italy will effectively be the group no 1 after only 2 games. So, Italy will play the bench team against Uruguay and Uruguay will get a point at least.

Odds of England winning:

Cost Rica need to beat Italy - 30% likely

England need to beat Costa Rica - 60% likely (if England know they are still in it tomorrow)

Italy need to beat Uruguay with their B team - 40% likely

Combined odds - 7%.

Conclusion - England in my view have a 1 in 13 chance of qualifying. That's why Woy is correct to be morose. You can all of course have your own view of the likelihood of each component but the combination of needing three things to happen will always kill off any realistic prospect. You do the maths!*

[*I knew my maths & stats A level would come in useful one day!]

[bentarm44]

Heineken don't do football managers; but if they did they would be NOTHING like Roy "the boy" Hodgson; or even David "more games" Moyes. I used to like it when England used to pick MEN to play in the International competitions, qualifying for a first 11 spot now involves being a big mouthed Bentley owner; not too much use in the box when the chips are down.

[PiPiFFS]

Dead man walking.

Why does it always have to be the managers fault ? What about the 11 overpaid, over indulged Prima Donnas running around the pitch actually believing they are worth the money they are paid when clearly they aren't worth a fraction of what they are paid.

Just look at the contrast to the players that won the world cup the last time to these so called Premier players. Contrast how much they were paid and how they behaved both on and off the pitch and you may realise why England will never again win a world cup.

I feel sorry for all those suckers who shelled out a lot of money to travel to Brazil to watch these clowns !

[jellydog]

Dead man walking.

Why does it always have to be the managers fault ? What about the 11 overpaid, over indulged Prima Donnas running around the pitch actually believing they are worth the money they are paid when clearly they aren't worth a fraction of what they are paid.

Just look at the contrast to the players that won the world cup the last time to these so called Premier players. Contrast how much they were paid and how they behaved both on and off the pitch and you may realise why England will never again win a world cup.

I feel sorry for all those suckers who shelled out a lot of money to travel to Brazil to watch these clowns !

Fine. Keep him and his mega money.

[rixalex]

Dead man walking.

Why does it always have to be the managers fault ? What about the 11 overpaid, over indulged Prima Donnas running around the pitch actually believing they are worth the money they are paid when clearly they aren't worth a fraction of what they are paid.

Just look at the contrast to the players that won the world cup the last time to these so called Premier players. Contrast how much they were paid and how they behaved both on and off the pitch and you may realise why England will never again win a world cup.

I feel sorry for all those suckers who shelled out a lot of money to travel to Brazil to watch these clowns !

Fine. Keep him and his mega money.

There's no doubt he should step down now. Anything short of the quarter finals is not good enough for any England manager. Not that the new man coming in will necessarily do any better, but Roy has had his shot, time to let someone else have a crack.

But with that said, the focus of all the criticism on Roy (and Rooney of course) is not fair. Yes, he made mistakes. Playing Rooney out of position against Italy was one of them. Giving too much space in the midfield to the opposition was another. But the attacking spirit in which we played, particularly against Italy, is something that deserves credit and acknowledgment. Before the competition started all of the anti crowd were mocking the idea that he'd do anything at all bold, confidently claiming that Roy didn't do anything other than defensive and conservative play. There was nothing conservative about starting with Welbeck, Rooney, Sterling and Sturridge. Nor was there anything conservative about our tactical approach. But how many of the anti crowd came forward holding up their hands and admitting that their preemptive criticism was unjustified and wrong? Not one that i saw. Got that criticism wrong... forget about it, hope everyone else does, and move on to slating him for something else.

And what about the players? Did they all have ten out of ten games, play blinders and make no mistakes? Of course not. Sure, the manager takes a degree of the credit/blame for the way they play, but not all of it. Some of the responsibility has to fall on their shoulders too, and in the main, they just weren't good enough... made too many critical individual mistakes and not clinical enough up front. But knowing where a lot of the Roy criticism is coming from, no surprise that the failings of the players is being totally ignored.

I said before the tournament started that if we did well all the credit would go to the Liverpool players, and if we did badly, all the blame would go to the manager, and so it has proven, for those with that agenda.

[stevenl]

England have also been unlucky with the group draw, to face two top ten seeded teams... the only team in the competition where that is the case.

How about Ghana and the USA?

Those rankings are not worth very much anyway.

Sorry .... my mistake on that one.

But my main point is that I don't think it is as lost as Hodgson is making out.

I don't think he should be sacked on England's performance against two very good sides.... I think England supporters, The UK media and the FA expect too much from what I would consider a pretty scrap team.

But what I do think, is that if anything he should be sacked for making negative comments about England's chances. That sort of attitude just rubs off on the players leading up to a crucial fixture.

He should be inspiring confidence, and with so many young players, this can backfire on him. They need their confidence boosted, not bashed.

If the bookmakers odds are anything to go by in the remaining games, then England should qualify.

But like I said... It only takes one draw and they are going home early.

Italy is pretty average, Urugay is over the top they reached 4 years ago. The main problem is England was worse than those teams.

IMO this 'group of death' is far from that, and relatively weak.

[laban]

Four years of preparation for the biggest stage and lose the first 2 matches, and probably get beaten by Costa Rica (not that it makes any difference now) - sack him, he is incompetent!

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