England manager Roy Hodgson gave a very weird explanation for not selecting West Ham midfielder Mark Noble for the Three Lions squad.
Speaking ahead of the friendly with Germany, Hodgson called Noble the flavour of the month and compared him to former Norwich striker Grant Holt.
Hodgson said: “The fact is there are are always two or three players that are in the news that many people would like to be selected or are better than the players I have selected, that is the nature of my job. I have said on many occasions that I refuse to close doors, and I refuse to rule people out.
“Having said that, we have a lot of players who over the last two years have worked very hard to establish themselves as England players. Those who are on the outside, still looking to get in, have got to convince me I’m better off leaving out a player I have been working with to make space.
“We have only got 23 places, 20 outfield players, we can’t unfortunately cap every player who has had a good season for his club. Before the World Cup it was Grant Holt so there is always somebody.”
Clearly his comments didn’t go down well with fans, especially those of West Ham:
Roy Hodgson comparing Mark Noble to Grant Holt in press conference. Ridiculous. Noble isn’t fit to lace Holt’s boots.
— Guz Todd (@guztodd) March 25, 2016
I think I might permanently delete Roy Hodgson from Football Manager 2016 after his ridiculous comparison between Mark Noble & Grant Holt.
— Golden FM (@Golden_FM) March 25, 2016
Roy Hodgson has delivered a crushing blow to Mark Noble’s international dreams by comparing him to Grant Holt. pic.twitter.com/3Pw2TGnHUi
— Uber West Ham (@UberWestHam) March 25, 2016
Roy Hodgson comparing Mark Noble who has been a consistent top level performer for a decade to Grant Holt (one decent season)!! what a donk
— Ayden Callaghan (@AydenCallaghan) March 25, 2016
Hodgson compares Mark Noble to Grant Holt. He should be knowing that Noble ain’t a one season wonder in the Premier League.
— Pranay (@pranaystrikes) March 25, 2016
Roy Hodgson just compared Mark Noble to Grant Holt hahahahaha what a silly man
— Tom (@_tom_burke_) March 25, 2016
Disgusting comments from Roy Hodgson re: Mark Noble. Very disrespectful in my opinion comparing him to Grant Holt one season wonder
— Sam (@AVFCSfan) March 25, 2016
Who let Hodgson sit in front of the media and compare Mark Noble to Grant Holt? What a fucking idiot.
— Ste’ Anthony (@TalkativeGravy3) March 25, 2016
Hodgson compared Noble to Grant Holt. Unreal.
— Cheikhou (@Kooyate) March 25, 2016
Hodgson bizarre reasoning for not picking Noble. Says he’s flavour of month now, Grant Holt was last time. Er, don’t think so…
— John Cross (@johncrossmirror) March 25, 2016
Not part of the Noble for England brigade but think Roy Hodgson was seriously out of line comparing him to Grant Holt; dreadful management.
— Jack Lusby (@jacklusby_) March 25, 2016
