Roy Hodgson admits delay dampened his side’s performance

Published on 18/10/2012 00:46

ENGLAND manager Roy Hodgson feared his team had lost some of their spark during the 24-hour delay to their World Cup qualifier with Poland.

The team left Warsaw last night grateful for a point after a 1-1 draw. Wayne Rooney put the visitors in front and missed a glorious chance to double that lead, but Poland were good value for their draw in the end and could easily have had more to show for their efforts than a Kamil Glik equaliser that came after a mistake from Joe Hart.

Hodgson accepted neither side benefited from the postponement caused by Tuesday’s deluge. But he certainly felt it affected his players.

“On Monday, after the training session on the pitch, the players were looking very sharp and lively,” he said. “I didn’t get that impression today. I don’t want to give the impression we were hard done by and our opponents weren’t.

“But if a game is postponed it is a little bit easier if you are on home soil. We had that extra day and night in the hotel.”

Hodgson labelled the pitch as “dead”, which may have contributed to some uncharacteristically sloppy passing, with Michael Carrick among those most affected.

“There was no question the pitch was playable, but it wasn’t suited to quick passing,” he said.

“Both teams made quite a few passing mistakes. At half-time we were quite surprised how many passes we had sent astray.”

The positive, which cannot be dismissed, is that England did not lose and, that Euro 2012 penalty shoot-out defeat to Italy excepted, remain unbeaten during Hodgson’s 11 games in charge. Their advantage in Group H is almost certain to have disappeared by the time they next play again in March as second-placed Montenegro, who are just a point behind, face minnows San Marino next month.

However, England’s durability is something Hodgson is convinced will stand them in good stead. “When you are in a qualifying group, or you are with a league club, there are days when things don’t always go your way,” he said.

“On those days it is very important you still come away with a result. We would have loved to have won it, but we didn’t produce good enough football to do that. But we did do enough to avoid defeat and go away with a point.”

Rooney added: “It was a hard-fought point. It was a difficult game, a difficult pitch. We weren’t at our best, but we dug in and got a draw. We know we can play better, but this is a difficult place to come. It is a decent point.”