In fairness to Fabio Capello’s successor, he has had very little time to prepare for the tournament in Poland and Ukraine with his commitment to West Brom not officially over until last Sunday, and he had previously suggested he was largely going to stick with experienced England performers.

With that in mind, there were just two new faces in the squad but there are surely plenty of questions over why some of the players that are set to take their place on the plane next month have made it – with England’s campaign set to get underway on June 11 (England 13/8 to win Group D).

There are just two warm-up games before then for Hodgson, who also confirmed Steven Gerrard will be captain, to finalise his plans – so taking a look at the squad, let’s start with the supposed ‘big calls’.

Rio Ferdinand was probably the biggest absentee and perhaps it was no surprise, given his recent fitness history and the fact that even his manager, Sir Alex Ferguson, had doubted whether he could play games in quick succession.

Still, he would have provided plenty of experience but every footballer has his lovers and haters, and there will be those who believe his best days are very much behind him.

However, John Terry has been included and there will be more doubters about him given his form, discipline issues, the fact that an impending trial forced the previous manager to step down as well as the fact that he has been there and definitely not done it – at the World Cup in 2010.

Barcelona actually looked less likely to score when he had been sent off, while his obvious inability to handle Andy Carroll in both the FA Cup final and subsequent 4-1 drubbing at Anfield led to Hodgson actually including the Liverpool striker – who had almost been a laughing stock in the previous nine months following his £35m move from Newcastle.

What makes the Carroll selection all the more surprising is the fact that he is one of only four strikers. With Wayne Rooney suspended for the first two group games, Jermain Defoe – who has not played a competitive match for England since September 2010 – and Danny Welbeck the others, Hodgson could end up being caught short up front.

Peter Crouch has never done anything wrong for England, in fact he has done a lot right with a fantastic goal ratio for the national side, while there is no place (not so surprising) for the second highest English scorer in the Premier League this season – Grant Holt.

Norwich City, though, can celebrate the call-up of John Ruddy, who has been rewarded for his fine season with the Canaries with his first international recognition.

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain also wins his first call-up for the impact, albeit limited, he has made for Arsenal this season but little can be said of the impact of Stewart Downing and Theo Walcott (of late), who did make the squad, when Aaron Lennon and Adam Johnson did not.

Kyle Walker has enjoyed a superb season for Spurs but is carrying an injury, although how the versatile Micah Richards has been overlooked is a mystery.

It is, of course, a ‘poisoned chalice’, the England manager’s job, because whoever is in charge is never going to please everyone all the time – in some manager’s cases, any of the time.

The proof is in the pudding, though, and Hodgson will have more idea of the capability of his squad following the first match of the tournament against France (France 13/8, Draw 11/5, England 11/8 Match Betting).

With games against Sweden and co-hosts Ukraine to follow, England will hope that the inclusion of Rooney will amount to more than one game with the Three Lions 6/4 to be eliminated at the Group Stage. Hodgson may already have his doubters but this squad should have enough to at least make it past the first stage. After that, it’s anyone’s guess.

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Manchester United

Nani has been in the headlines after scoring a dubious goal in the 2-0 win over Tottenham in the Premier League on Saturday.

The Portuguese international touched the ball with his hand before tapping the ball past Heurelho Gomes who believed a free-kick had been given.

Nani has been a key player for United this season already scoring four goals in 10 appearances for the Red Devils.

The 23-year-old has revealed that his good form has been down in part to the encouragement he has received from Ronaldo.

United (9/1 to win the Champions League) sold Ronaldo for £80m last summer as he desired to leave the club for Spanish giants Real Madrid.

Nani has praised his former team-mate for his advice since his departure for the Santiago Bernabeu.

He said: “Cristiano is always there for me. We are big friends and he helps me with my game – even though he is in Madrid we speak all the time. It is great to have a friend like that, someone who can hear me out and give me encouragement.”

“Things are going well this season and now people are seeing the real Nani. My performance in the team has been very good, but I want to do more and I have to keep learning and improving,” he explained.

Nani has been tasked with filling the void left by Ronaldo and the talented winger has been putting in some good performances so far this season.

United have struggled for goals in the forward positions this season with Wayne Rooney and Michael Owen sidelined through injury, while Dimitar Berbatov failing to find the back of the net in his last six outings.

Nani has contributed to the goals this season and has praised Sir Alex Ferguson for his support this season.

The Portugal international said: “The manager has already played a big part in my form. He has a meeting with all the young players because now we are getting more opportunity.

“He is always impressing on the young players how it is important to get better. United is a big club and we need to win, so every player on the pitch needs to think he can be the best in the world.

“The manager tells us we are here because we are the best.”

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The pacey forward has less than two years left on his deal having arrived at Villa Park from Watford for big money back in 2007.

Signed by former boss Martin O’Neill, Young has gone on to establish himself as a key first-team player for the Villans while he has also won 10 caps for the Three Lions.

The 25-year-old insists he is happy at Villa but says he is determined to concentrate on matters on the pitch rather than get distracted by contract talks.

Young told The Sun: “I’ve told the people at Villa that I won’t be signing a new contract at the moment.

“I know they want to get it done now but my current deal still has a year to run after this season and I feel there is plenty of time to talk next summer.

“I want to stress that I have no problem with Aston Villa. I love the fans and I’m very much enjoying my football.

“I want to concentrate on what’s happening on the field and don’t want to get distracted.

“It’s a big season for me and I’m hopeful there are good times ahead under the new manager.”

Villa (9/5 – 90 minutes betting) take on Sunderland (11/8) at the Stadium of Light as they look to better their current position of eighth in the Premier League after eight games of the season.

Last weekend the Villans held leaders Chelsea to a 0-0 draw at Villa Park but it is away from home where Gerard Houllier’s men have struggled, with three defeats on the road already.

Villa are boosted by the return of striker Emile Heskey (back) and midfielder Marc Albrighton (illness) while centre-half Richard Dunne is also available despite being forced off with a gashed ankle last time out (Heskey 8/1 – Enhanced First Goalscorer).

Houllier is still without forward Gabriel Agbonlahor and full-back Luke Young because of groin and hamstring problems respectively.

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Chelsea

The 31-year-old, who won the Golden Boot for the 2008/09 season, has enjoyed a nomadic existence during his 13-year career to date, with spells at clubs including Arsenal, Real Madrid, Liverpool, Manchester City and Bolton.

Anelka has been at Chelsea since January 2008 and scored his 50th club goal in midweek as the Blues secured a 2-0 win at Spartak Moscow – and now he is hoping to bag many more providing the club wants to keep him.

Out of contract at the end of next season, the former France international still has a lot to offer and he hopes it is in the blue of Chelsea.

“When I first signed here I knew I had arrived at a big club and I wanted to stay as long as possible,” Anelka revealed.

“I don’t know what will happen in the future. After this season I have one more year on my current deal and I will see what will happen because you never know.

“But I am very happy here and I would be glad to sign for more years.

“I am just very satisfied to achieve two landmarks with Chelsea in goals scored and how long I have spent here, it has just been special to score goals for Chelsea.”

Anelka has helped himself to just two goals in the Premier League so far this term – four fewer than club-mates Didier Drogba and Florent Malouda – so he will be hoping to add to his tally when Chelsea (1/7 to win the game) entertain Wolves (14/1) on Saturday afternoon.

Carlo Ancelotti is boosted by the return of Drogba after illness but he still has injury problems to contend with for the clash.

Striker Daniel Sturridge is struggling with an ankle problem and could join Frank Lampard (groin), Alex (thigh), Yossi Benayoun (Achilles) and Ramires (ankle) on the sidelines.

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Manchester City

England ace Rooney has informed the Red Devils that he does not want to sign a new deal, with strong speculation claiming City are ready to step in and offer the 24-year-old an escape route to Eastlands.

The former Everton youngster has been frozen out of United boss Sir Alex Ferguson’s starting plans as a result – the Scot has been sitting on the news since August – and he is certain to have no shortage of admirers despite a slump in form.

Mancini, however, has played a straight bat to questions over a swoop for Rooney although he did make sure the player would be left in no doubt over the Italian’s admiration.

Mancini said: “Rooney is a great player but I think he’ll stay at United. He’s a good player, he’s an important player for United.

“He is a United player. It’s not correct to speak about that situation. I have respect for him, for Ferguson, for United. I want to speak only about my players.

“It’s not my problem. I’m City manager. I have a lot of problems with my players. It’s important for me to focus on Thursday’s game (against Lech Poznan in the Europa League). He is a strong player like (Fernando) Torres, like (Lionel) Messi, like Carlos Tevez, like (Mario) Balotelli. This is my opinion.”

If Rooney does end up at City he will form part of a squad that has still to reach its potential, according to summer signing James Milner.

The England midfielder left Aston Villa for City in the summer but he was just one of a number of big-name arrivals alongside the likes of David Silva, Mario Balotelli and Yaya Toure.

City have since gone on to secure second place in the Premier League behind Chelsea and Milner is confident things will get even better over the coming weeks and months once they hit their straps.

He said in the Daily Mirror: “The best is to come but it’s the sign of a good team when you can win and not play your best football. Obviously it takes time for a side with so many new faces to become a unit.

“We have a lot of very good players here, players who are determined to succeed. Hopefully we can keep improving as a team, keep moving forward and hopefully you’ll see the best of us soon.”

City are 2/9 to beat Lech Poznan (12/1) at Eastlands on Thursday night.

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Sunderland

The 26-year-old may have been overlooked for the Italian’s 2010 World Cup squad, when Wayne Rooney, Jermain Defoe, Emile Heskey and Peter Crouch got the nod.

But Capello insists he will be involved for his country now on, stating on the FA website: “Bent is back. In front of goal, he is really dangerous.

“He played 20 minutes against Switzerland and scored an important goal. Now he is training really well. He is probably one of the important players for the future.”

Bent failed to make the cut for the ill-fated trip to South Africa in the summer despite smashing 24 goals last term to finish second behind Rooney as the most prolific English striker in the Premier League.

The former Charlton and Ipswich star has successfully relaunched his career with the Black Cats after an unhappy spell with Tottenham between 2007-09.

The Londoner still managed 18 goals in 60 appearances for the White Hart Lane outfit, however he never really seemed to have the confidence of boss Harry Redknapp having been signed by Martin Jol.

Bent made the switch to the Stadium of Light for £10m although he could eventually cost Sunderland a reported £16.5m, if various add-ons become payable by the Wearsiders (Sunderland 9/1 – Top Six Finish).

England are not in action until Tuesday October 12 when they entertain Montenegro in a Euro 2012 qualifier, with Capello keen to give his squad as much rest as possible.

He confirmed: “A lot of players have played a lot of games before we play, I prefer to select the players for the game on Tuesday.

“Also I prefer not to play a friendly game on the Friday because we think that the Montenegro game will be really, really important.”

Capello added: “We know that in this period we are really good, the players are playing well and physically it is a really good moment.

“We have to wait five months for the next game with Wales, so we know what we have to do.”

England have got off to a storming start to their Euro 2012 qualification campaign, with back-to-back wins against Bulgaria and Switzerland to top Group G (Three Lions 1/25 – To Qualify).

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Peter Crouch

The north London outfit are entering their first-ever Champions League campaign having defied the odds to secure fourth place last season ahead of mega-rich Manchester City.

Their finish in the Premier League table made sure of a spot in the last round of qualifying for the tournament and after a slight hiccup in the first leg they eventually turned over Youngs Boys of Berne, thanks in part to a Crouch hat-trick.

Spurs have now headed out to Germany for their first European Cup game since they were dumped out at the semi-final stage in 1962 by Benfica.

Just less than half a century later and Tottenham have returned to Europe’s top club competition with confidence high they can go on a decent run.

They have been drawn in Group A alongside last season’s winners Inter Milan (1/6 to qualify from Group A), Werder Bremen (20/21) and FC Twente (9/2).

Despite having been paired with Inter Spurs certainly fancy their chances of progressing to the knockouts stages ahead of Werder and Twente.

Tuesday’s game against Werder will be good test of Tottenham’s European credentials as they take on the four-time Bundesliga champions.

Despite the nature of the occasion Spurs boss Harry Redknapp has seemingly headed out to Germany with other things on his mind having been heavily linked with the England manager’s post after current boss Fabio Capello announced he would leave in 2012.

Redknapp has said he isn’t looking that far ahead and claims he is totally focused on the job in hand.

The former West Ham, Portsmouth and Southampton boss will certainly have injuries on his mind having lost Michael Dawson and Jermain Defoe to ligament damage before the game.

However, some good news came on Monday after it was revealed Luka Modric could be fit after badly bruising his leg in Saturday’s 1-1 draw with West Brom.

Despite potentially missing three key players Crouch has backed the Tottenham (40/1 – Champions League outright) squad to come good and get off to a winning start in their Champions League campaign as he aims for an appearances in the final at Wembley in May.

“I was a part of Liverpool side that got to the 2007 Champions League final and the quality in the Tottenham dressing room right now is a match for the team we had at Anfield three years ago,” said Crouch.

“We don’t want to get ahead of ourselves by saying we can get to the final or anything like that because we have only just qualified for the group stages for the first time, but I firmly believe we are good enough to enjoy a good run in this competition. We just have to believe in ourselves if we are to make the most of this opportunity.

“With the final being held at Wembley this season, it would be great for an English team to get there and there’s no reason why Spurs cannot have a good go at making it happen. We have plenty of players in our squad who are capable of doing some damage in this competition.”

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Fabio Capello

The 64-year-old Italian tactician narrowly escaped the axe from his £6million-a-year post this summer following the Three Lions’ disastrous World Cup campaign in South Africa in which several lacklustre performances ended with a dismal 4-1 thrashing against Germany in the second round.

However, the Football Association stuck with Capello and his bid to get England to the European Championships in two years’ time (England 1/7 Group G Winner) has started impressively with two opening wins against Bulgaria and Switzerland with seven goals scored and only one conceded.

England’s good start has been all the more admirable given that the experienced and influential Chelsea duo John Terry and Frank Lampard have both been absent due to injuries. And the likes of Adam Johnson and Theo Walcott – who both missed the World Cup – have both shown why they can now be key men for the national side in the Euro 2012 qualification campaign.

A victory against a Montenegro side, which has also started with two wins, at Wembley next month would put England (1/25 Yes – To Qualify) in an excellent position to make the finals in Poland and Ukraine. And, while there have been suggestions that Capello could even be asked to stay on until the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, he has made his mind up to call it a day and put his feet up.

When asked if he would be leaving after 2012, Capello said: “Absolutely. Yes.

“We have to qualify first of course but after that I will be too old.

“I want to enjoy my life as a pensioner.”

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The Rossoneri have been overshadowed in recent years by city rivals Inter Milan, with the Nerazzurri securing the Serie A title for the last five consecutive seasons – although their success in 2006 was due to the Calciopoli Scandal, with Juventus stripped of the title – as well as picking up the Champions League and Coppa Italia titles in the last campaign (Inter 14/1 to retain their Champions League title).

In contrast AC Milan have endured somewhat of a trophy drought by their own standards of late, the San Siro side last won the Champions League in 2007, their last Scudetto triumph came in 2004 and the Coppa Italia has eluded them since 2003.

However, Robinho has promised to help the side get back to winning ways and is confident he can secure some silverware during his stay in Milan.

“I hope with the rest of my team-mates to be able to contribute to hand many titles to this club,” he told the club’s official website.

“Milan has great players and it’s a fantastic side with a very important history.

“Kaka has always spoken to me very well about Milan and now I know that the Brazilian players in the team will give me a great hand in adapting to the team.

“I will work very hard to make the fans very happy. I want to bring so much joy to them.”

AC Milan have already made a fine start to their Serie A campaign and have seen their odds shorten after the opening weekend fixtures in Italy.

Inter Milan remain the 6/5 favourites with Totesport but AC Milan are now priced at 2/1 following their opening day 4-0 mauling of Lecce, with Robinho’s compatriots Alexandre Pato (2) and Thiago Silva netting in the victory (Pato 33/1 to be the top goalscorer in the Champions League).

Reigning champions Inter, now under the guidance of former Liverpool and Valencia boss Rafael Benitez, could only manage a goalless draw at Bologna in their first fixture.

Juventus and Roma are seen as the other contenders who could challenge for the Serie A title this season but neither managed to pick up three points in their respective openers.

Roma also drew a blank as they could only manage to pick up a point in their home tie newly promoted AC Cesena, while Juve suffered a 1-0 defeat away at Bari.

The Milan faithful have every reason to be confident this season.

Jose Mourinho is no longer at the helm of their fierce rivals and Inter were left largely frustrated in the transfer market as Javier Mascherano chose to join Barcelona instead of linking up with former boss Benitez for a second spell.

With the £22million arrival of Robinho they have a benchmark signing of their own to welcome to the San Siro and new boss Massimiliano Allegri, although not particularly well known outside of his homeland, is a respected coach in Italy after his exploits with Cagliari, where he implemented an exciting brand of attacking football despite the financial limitations of the Italian minnows.

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Sir Alex Ferguson

The 31-year-old picked up the problem while on international duty with the Three Lions at the World Cup.

The injury ruled the former West Ham and Leeds centre-half out of the entire tournament, just weeks after he had returned to full fitness after a domestic season plagued by injury.

Ferdinand made just 21 appearances for United in all competitions last season as he was dogged by a persistent back problem.

Ferdinand’s injuries compounded a difficult season for Ferguson as he lost a number of his top defenders to injury, being forced to play the likes of Michael Carrick and Darren Fletcher in his back four at times.

The centre-back was expected to be fit for the start of the new season but his return date has now been put back until the end of September as he struggles to get fit.

Ferguson says he isn’t worried about the amount of time Ferdinand has spent on the sidelines and believes his recovery is on course.

“We are still thinking the end of September for Rio,” said the United boss.

“It was a medial ligament problem rather than a cruciate, so the recovery time is exactly what we thought.

“It was a freak. It is nothing to do with his back. We just had to treat it the proper way. These things are never easy.”

The latest update on Ferdinand’s fitness means he will miss England’s first two Euro 2012 qualifiers in September as Fabio Capello’s men face Bulgaria (8/1 to win Group G) and Switzerland (5/1).

The injury also means that United will be without their defensive stalwart for the big game against Liverpool on September 19.

While United fans remain concerned about Ferdinand’s fitness Ferguson has moved to ease their fears over a number of other players, including midfielder Anderson.

The Brazilian has returned to training this week after a knee injury and the United boss hopes he could be back in first team contention after September’s international break.

Left-back Patrice Evra has also been given a clean bill ahead of Sunday’s game with Fulham (4/1 to beat United), the France international having fully recovered from a nasty collision with the advertising hoardings during Monday’s 3-0 win over Newcastle.

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