Euro 2016

Roy Hodgson: 'Rotating full-backs made sense'

By Darren Plant, Senior Reporter | 23 June 2016

England boss Roy Hodgson says that his rotation of Tottenham Hotspur pair Kyle Walker and Danny Rose for the game against Slovakia should not have come as a surprise.

England boss Roy Hodgson has said that he made a logical decision when opting to leave out Kyle Walker and Danny Rose for the Euro 2016 clash with Slovakia.

Hodgson came in for criticism after making six changes for a must-win fixture, but the Three Lions coach has attempted to justify his decision by saying that it is rare for either Tottenham Hotspur full-back to play three successive games for their club.

He told Sky Sports News: "With the full-backs, it was more a case really of following what they do with the club sides. Walker and Rose don't, very often, play three matches in a row or in a week.

"At one stage, they weren't playing two matches in a week because [Mauricio] Pochettino was rotating the two sets of full-backs all of the time so I thought that was a very obvious thing to do for that game."

Both players are expected to return to the starting lineup when England face Iceland in the last 16 on Monday night.