ROY PLEASED WITH OSLO OPENER
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SATURDAY, 26 MAY, 2012
England Manager happy with win over Norway in his first game in charge.
Roy Hodgson was delighted to get his reign in charge of England off to a winning start by beating Norway in Oslo.
Ashley Young's early goal was enough to give England their first win over Norway since 1966.
“That was a great start for us because we know how difficult it is to win in Norway," said the new Manager.
“We've had three tough days training and I was a bit concerned about the fatigue factor, and you could see there towards the end one or two players were feeling their muscles, but that is because we worked so hard in training. Everybody has been doing so much to impress me.
“It was a marvellous start to my career as national coach because it is not often that Norway lose at home, and a while since we beat them here so it was nice to get the result.”
Hodgson praised his front pair of Young and Andy Carroll: “He and Carroll proved they can do that job, and I thought both of them were really good.
“Perhaps we could have been a little bit more positive, there was an element of keeping the ball sometimes when we could have got it forwards earlier to get those two players in, but that is something we've got to work on.
“We've started talking about it and sewing a few seeds, and by the time the European Championship comes around we will have done a lot more work and will be getting Ashley Young into positions like that more often.”
Hodgson refused to be drawn on whether the pair would start against France in Donetsk on 11 June, but said: “I'm not prepared at this moment to say what the partnership will be.
"We know it won't be Wayne Rooney because he is not allowed to play, we don't know how Danny Welbeck is going to be coming along, and we've still got Jermain Defoe. Even a guy like Theo Walcott could play there, so I think I am in a comfortable position.”
The only concerns for England were over the injury situations with Scott Parker, who has had an Achilles' tendon injury, and Gareth Barry, wbo left with a groin problem.
“Scott's been OK. We wanted to give him a bit more than 45 minutes to test him out and see if he was going to get a reaction, and at the moment there is no reaction, though maybe we'll find out more tomorrow.
“Gareth Barry worries me a little bit more because he did feel his groin, and we'll have to get that scanned. We don't have a lot of time left, and if it was a serious groin injury, I daresay it could be something for me to think about seriously.”
And Hodgson added: “You don't lay a foundation in three days, I hope we'll lay those over the coming weeks and months. But it was a very positive start to my time as national coach because it was a good win and good result and keeps us looking forward to the next game.”
http://www.thefa.com/England/News/match-ce...tch/roy-hodgson 
ინგლისური ფეხბურთის ფანკლუბი, The Three Lions
