Hodgson Calls For Friendly Common Sense

Roy Hodgson has called on International Managers to show some common sense when picking teams for friendlies.

International breaks are always a bone of contention with club managers, as players get dragged away - often for pointless friendlies - and it's the club who is left nursing the injuries, the tiredness and having their plans ruined and Roy isn't the first manager to bemoan the way varying FA's schedule these money grabbing fixtures.

Unlike most however Roy actually has experience on the International side, and he thinks International Managers shouldn't simply use their power to insist a player turns up when called upon by their country, they should instead work with the clubs and in the best interests of everybody.

Speaking to the Birmingham Mail the new gaffer said:

'I'm sceptical about friendlies, especially if you're using the same senior players. Friendlies can be useful to look at other players, so it's important that national team coaches bear those things in mind.'

Hodgson proves his point by referring to Sami Hyypia during his spell with Finland. Sami was considering hanging up his international boots because of the number of games he was playing, so they simply agreed that friendlies would be out of the question and Hyypia would only be selected for Qualifiers and important international games.

It was the perfect workaround, and afterall, Hodgson certainly didn't need to 'find out' what Hyypia could do.

Friendlies are for testing new players, they aren't the place for players who have already shown whether or not they can perform at international levels.

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