• England

Hodgson: I'm Mr Vicious

ESPN staff
September 8, 2014
Does Hodgson have a reason to be upset?

Roy Hodgson says he was surprised by the reaction to his expletive-fuelled outburst after England's victory over Norway, claiming he has always possessed a "vicious" streak.

In his press conference on Wednesday, Hodgson had said a statistic that England had mustered just two shots on target against Norway - one of them Rooney's match-winning penalty - was "f****** b*******".

Roy Hodgson looks on during England training at St Jakob-Park © Getty Images
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It was suggested by some that Hodgson was feeling the pressure over mounting criticism following England's dismal World Cup campaign, however, he says he was merely being true to type ahead of tonight's crunch Euro 2016 qualifier against Switzerland.

"First of all, I'm not a calm person, never have been a calm person," Hodgson said. "Secondly, as any player who has worked with me would attest, there are always moments of extreme anger and viciousness in my coaching sessions.

"What astounds me is you're trying to tell me this having not seen it. I don't understand how anything I did in that training session [on Friday] could be seen as 'anger'. I'd rather be accused of being a bit over robust in response to questions I didn't agree with.

"But is Roy Hodgson an angry person, has he got a nasty streak? You wouldn't have to go too far to prove it. The players would come out of the woodwork in no time. I've never sought popularity. I like to consider myself a good professional, a good coach and someone who believes in his players.

"It's unusual for me to get angry with my players because I protect them. If I'm guilty of anything the other night, it was of protecting players from unfair criticism and standing up for them.

"But be careful of stereo-typing me too much as a calm, collected person."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd
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