Brendan Rodgers expects Daniel Sturridge to be left out by England
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Version 0 of 1. Brendan Rodgers said he expected Daniel Sturridge to be omitted from England’s squad for the forthcoming Euro 2016 qualifiers following a conversation with Roy Hodgson. Liverpool were without Sturridge for a sixth successive game in Wednesday night’s 1-0 defeat at Basel and the only positive on the night for Rodgers was Hodgson’s decision not to select Sturridge for England’s games against San Marino, a week on Thursday, and Estonia on Sunday 12 October. The Liverpool manager had stated Sturridge, injured while training with England last month, would not be fit even if he took part in the Premier League game against West Bromwich Albion on Saturday. Speaking after the Champions League defeat, he said: “I spoke to Roy today and the agreement will be that Daniel will not meet up with England. It’s best for both parties really. I’m not sure Daniel will be fit for the weekend. At this moment he won’t be in the squad and I am sure Roy will confirm that tomorrow. “For Dan now the next two weeks is a case of getting up to speed to make sure he’s fit to play for us, which is the priority.” The decision comes after Hodgson sent the Football Association’s medical staff to visit the Merseyside club to discuss Sturridge’s fitness issues. A delegation from the FA spent two days at Melwood, Liverpool’s training ground, this week to speak to their Anfield counterparts, as well as to Rodgers and Sturridge to try to address their concerns about the striker being injured in training on England duty last month. Rodgers had blamed Hodgson for not following Liverpool’s individually tailored fitness programme for Sturridge. Hodgson, who is planning to switch Luke Shaw and possibly Calum Chambers back to England’s Under-21s so they can play in the two-leg European Championship play-offs against Croatia, still wants to pick his best available players and is unimpressed by Rodgers saying Raheem Sterling ought to be rested. Hodgson and Gareth Southgate watched the fit-again Shaw play in Manchester United’s 2-1 victory over West Ham on Saturday and the San Marino game is such a formality, the two coaches have spoken at length about whether it would be better to prioritise the under-21s’ playoff at Molineux the following night. The game against Estonia carries more of a risk for Hodgson but, again, he and Southgate are leaning towards Shaw and Chambers being involved for the under-21s in the return leg in Vinkovci on Tuesday week. Barring a late change of mind, Saido Berahino will remain with the under-21s despite talk of him being promoted to the higher level. The FA is hopeful of attracting a crowd in the region of 50,000 against San Marino and certainly beating the figure for the game against Norway in August, when the attendance of 40,181 was the lowest to watch at an England game since Wembley was rebuilt and considerably down on the previous record, 48,876, for the friendly against Sweden in November 2011. |