Up All Night With Hodgson

OK the title sounds a little strange, we're not spending the night with Roy Hodgson physically, I think his wife may have something to say about that. However ahead of the crucial World Cup qualifier against Poland, the England manager has admitted that he won't be getting much sleep tonight:

"I am a worrier," said Hodgson, 66. "It won't be my best night's sleep.

"Things happen in games you don't always want to happen and that is what makes you worry a bit."

I'm not saying if we were on the 12th century battlefield, this war-cry would have your troops throwing up the white flags, but it hardly fills us with the most confidence. After all, it was Hodgson's selection of Andros Townsend that proved decisive in the 4-1 dismantling of Montenegro on Friday night, his confidence should be sky high ahead of his most important team selection in years.

Not feeling all that confident? don't worry it gets a little bit better:

"I'm not thinking of the play-offs," added Hodgson, who managed Switzerland at the 1994 World Cup in the USA.

"I don't think we shall be very satisfied if we don't win. We know we've got the play-offs but I don't think that will affect the attitude of the players.

"We're a good team, we're at home and we want to win."

Well there is the silver-lining. If England fail to beat Poland and Ukraine handle San Marino as expected, England will have a play-off decided over two legs in November to look forward to. We don't want that, Roy doesn't want that, the players don't want that and you better believe the Premier League managers don't want that.

So chin up folks, we have a game to win tomorrow.