Hodgson hits out at England critics
The 66-year-old manager has defended his side’s performance in Kyiv as a largely dour 0-0 draw against Mykhaylo Fomenko’s men was enough to hold on to top spot in Group H
Roy Hodgson has hit back at his critics following England’s dour goalless draw in Ukraine on Tuesday night.
The stalemate in Kyiv means the Three Lions can still guarantee World Cup qualification with victories in their remaining games at Wembley against Montenegro and Poland.
But an unspectacular performance, in which England scarcely created a goalscoring chance of note, has hardly inspired confidence ahead of the final two matches of the campaign.
Former England striker Gary Lineker was among those who criticised England’s approach, branding them as “awful”, but Hodgson disagreed with the 52-year-old’s assessment and believes his side picked up a valuable result.
He told reporters: “I don’t think that is a fair comment on our performance.
“If the expectations upon us are so great that we come to places like Ukraine and are expected to roll teams over, it will be difficult for us to ever get a good result. I will stick to my ignorance.
“I think it is a good result. Before coming here, the feeling amongst you people was that a draw would have been a good result.
“I am surprised to hear people say – what I thought was a good performance – has become yet again underwhelming. Who are we talking about? There are 60 million people back there.”
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