Roy Hodgson Has England Selection Headache

England manager Roy Hodgson admits he has a selection headache ahead of the opening Euro 2016 game against Russia in Marseille. Hodgson has shuffled his squad and tried out different formations in England's warm-up matches, but he now needs to finalise his starting XI for the Stade Velodrome showdown.

He said “Yes, there is a selection headache in terms of so many good players who could quite easily command a place in the team, It has not been easy to select a team but I don't think I am alone, there are quite a few teams in the competition who have got a strong squad. But I am pleased with the squad I have and I have all 23 players fit and ready for selection”.

It is the youngest ever England squad for a European Championship with an average age of 25.8 - with only four players remaining from Euro 2012 - but Hodgson does not believe the lack of experience will be a problem. He said “I think we have got qualities, there is no doubt about that, we are relatively inexperienced because it is a young team in terms of age and number of caps. That can't be seen as an advantage per se but I think that lack of experience is countered in some way by the youth, by the energy.  Most importantly of all, it is a group of players who are really keen to do well. They have prepared extremely well, so I can't ask any more of them. All I can do is keep trying to guide them along the way and hope that they succeed as well as they would like to”.