5 England World Cup Decisions That Should Haunt Roy Hodgson

1. Too Many Out Of Form Manchester United Players

Manchester United€™s poor league form meant that Wayne Rooney was the only English player at the club whose World Cup squad place was secure, as everyone else of the right birth-right seemed to have either played themselves out of contention or were holding on to slim hopes of travelling. Surprisingly Hodgson included the under-performing trio of Phil Jones, Chris Smalling and Danny Welbeck in his squad. Jones and Smalling had stagnated badly at United last season, especially Smalling, but the England manager seemed to have treated him as a personal project for the last 12 months, perhaps thanks to their Fulham link. However, his form did not warrant a place in Brazil, and nor did Jones', especially not over better performing defenders like John Stones, Curtis Davies and Steven Caulker. Ultimately, the two matches Smalling and Jones played versus Ecuador and Costa Rica, all but confirmed why they should not have been picked. Welbeck, despite his energy and very good work rate, showed too many times in the season that his finishing is simply not clinical enough for a striker. Hodgson meanwhile seemed to ignore his other qualities and he made the starting XI, but realistically Jermaine Defoe is the better goal-scorer and should have been picked despite being in America, while Lallana, Wilshere or Barkely should have been the first choice player as an advanced midfielder. Tom Cleverley€™s choice as back-up player also exposed Hodgson unusual amount of selected United players, especially as Gareth Barry andTom Huddlestone most certainly deserved to be on the stand-by list far more. Unfortunately, these five issues don't offer much confidence that Hodgson is the correct coach to lead this new generation of English players ahead of EURO 2016 and Russia 2018, and with the game under review in England, it is perhaps the manager who should accept some more blame.