England Boss Roy Hodgson Defends Montenegro Display

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Manager insists they failed to win because ‘they are not robots’

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England boss Roy Hodgson has launched a surprising defence of his team’s performance against Montenegro on Tuesday night according to The Daily Mail.

The former West Brom manager watched from the dugout as England came sprinting out of the blocks and looked entirely dominant throughout the first 45 minutes.

England deservedly took the lead through a Wayne Rooney header and could have had plenty more with the Manchester United striker hitting the post and Liverpool’s Glen Johnson seeing his long-range effort deflecting off the bar.

But the team that came out for the second half was a shadow of the team that went in at half time.

Montenegro began to press England in possession and the team started to produce a string of sloppy mistakes that eventually allowed Dejan Damjanovic to scramble home an equaliser with just thirteen minutes remaining.

That leaves England two points behind Montenegro and facing the very real possibility of having to qualify for the World Cup via the play-offs.

The performance has led to a number of critics questioning why England appear to be so incapable at keeping possession.

Hodgson responded that the reason was because they were humans, not robots. It is unclear how Hodgson explains the apparently mechanical abilities of other teams to keep possession in a way that England cannot.

Should England finish second, they face the prospect of a two-leg play-off match with the likes of Portugal, France, Greece and Croatia.


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