• Manager hands Andy Carroll starting place against Norway
• 'I expect performances from the players,' stresses Hodgson
Roy Hodgson has urged his England players to seize an opportunity against Norway on Saturday night and "prove they should be involved" in his lineup at Euro 2012, with his focus already drawn towards the opening group game against France in Donetsk in 17 days' time.
The England manager will mark his first game in charge by handing Andy Carroll a starting place at the Ullevaal stadium, using Ashley Young in a role just behind the Liverpool forward, with Scott Parker, who has been suffering from a persistent achilles tendon injury, to play the first half alongside the captain, Steven Gerrard. Danny Welbeck, still troubled by an ankle complaint, will not be involved, though Hodgson suggested he would risk retaining him in his final 23-man squad to be submitted to Uefa on Tuesday.
The Manchester United forward trained away from his team-mates with the England physio, Gary Lewin, on Friday night and will need to be assessed on Monday – along with Glen Johnson, who has an infected toe – but Hodgson is hopeful the forward will be available to train fully by the time the squad arrive in Poland on 6 June.
"Danny Welbeck is the biggest concern," said Hodgson. "There's an element of risk involved, certainly, but we don't have many other alternatives of the 'Welbeck-type' up front.
"The only other forward in the squad who's remotely comparable is Andy Carroll because I want to have someone capable of playing as a lone striker. Welbeck fits that description. We have a couple more days [to make a final decision] but you employ doctors, physios and experts and you value their opinions. Whey they say: 'Don't worry, he'll be fit and OK', sometimes you have to accept that.
"I'd hate to dismiss him despite medical advice and then, in five days' time, hear he's running round with nothing wrong with him. I'm hoping I'm not taking a striker who's only 80% fit. I'm counting on him being fully fit and, as long as he gives me guarantees he can and wants to play, I'll take him."
Hodgson also experimented with Walcott in a central attacking role, behind Carroll, in Friday night's session, with James Milner and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, who will make his debut at some stage on Saturday night, operating in turn on the right of midfield.
The England manager has lost the services of his third-choice goalkeeper, John Ruddy, after the Norwich player broke a finger in training at the Etihad Stadium on Thursday. Hodgson has assured Ruddy, who remains in Norway, he will be in contention to return to the fold when the World Cup qualifying campaign begins in the autumn.
Birmingham City's 19-year-old Jack Butland has been promoted from the standby list as a replacement and, with Joe Hart initially rested, Rob Green will feature night for the first time since his infamous error in Rustenburg handed the United States an equaliser in England's opening game of the 2010 World Cup.
No England manager has lost his first game in charge since Sir Alf Ramsey, a 5-2 defeat in France in 1963, yet Hodgson was keen to insist he considers the fixture against Egil Olsen's Norway merely "preparation", with the result effectively immaterial. However, he is keen for his squad to seize their opportunity to impress and prove there is cause for some optimism ahead of the tournament in Poland and Ukraine.
"If this squad is anything like as good as we think they are, and if the players we have in the pipeline making their way in the Premier League are anything as good as we make them out to be, then you have to believe that England has a future," he said. "I'd like to think I have the experience and knowledge to lead that nation into the future. But football's played by the players. They have to do a good job. There are a lot of people who, after South Africa, will want to prove they are good enough, and I'll be expecting performances from the players. It's an opportunity for them to prove they should be involved."
"Maybe there is a bit of doubt about at the moment," added Gerrard. "A bit of a lack of belief in this group of players. I've heard whispers that people think this is the weakest group we've had a for long time with England. But we have a chance to prove this is a good team, and to start giving a bit of belief and confidence back to the public. We know that, if we perform like we did in South Africa, we'll be going home early." Read More
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