Roy Hodgson has insisted that his decision to leave Daniel Sturridge out of his latest England squad had nothing to do with pressure put on him by Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers.
The 25-year-old picked up an injury while on international duty for the Three Lions last month and has not played since.
Rodgers made it clear earlier this week that Sturridge would not be fit for England duty, even if he recovers from his thigh strain in time for this weekend's match against West Bromwich Albion.
However, Hodgson says that omitting the striker from his 21-man party was a decision that was easy to make.
"Its just simply a fact, an unfortunate fact, that he's not recovered," he told reporters. "It's a great blow to us, Liverpool and the player, because he was anxious to be a part of these two games. There's no problems or conflict there at all.
"He's not played for Liverpool at all since picking up the injury with us. As I understand it he's still got some work to do before he's fully fit. There was no question of him being selected. I haven't been told he can't play for us. We have a right to pick players and we have a right to check on their fitness and assess them ourselves.
"It's never happened in my two-and-a-half years and hope it never will. The way forward is to have dialogue with managers and players. If he took some part at the weekend it'll be very much at the beginning of his recovery. Us going forward in December and March, a fully fit Sturridge is what I need."
England, who kicked off their Euro 2016 qualifying campaign with a 2-0 victory away at Switzerland last month, take on Estonia and San Marino in their next two games.
Daniel Lewis
