Roy Hodgson: 'Ashley Young, Ashley Cole not to blame'

Roy Hodgson has refused to blame Ashley Young and Ashley Cole for England's Euro 2012 demise.

The two players both missed penalties in the decisive quarter-final shoot-out in Kiev, which Italy went on to win 4-2.

Hodgson has spoken out in support of the pair, claiming it would be unfair to cast judgement on them for missing a penalty.

"A player's reputation should not be forged on a penalty shootout, it should be forged on the four games we have not lost," said Hodgson.

"We've watched these players taking penalties in training because it has become an obsession for us in English football, and they'd done extremely well. But you can't reproduce the tension, the occasion, the tired legs.

"The cool, calculated way that Andrea Pirlo had the confidence to chip the goalkeeper, you either have that as a player or you don't, and no amount of coaching or training will help reproduce that."

England have been knocked out of five major tournaments on penalties since the 1990 World Cup.