England boss Allardyce defends decision to omit Barkley

Luke Shaw, Phil Jagielka, Danny Drinkwater and Theo Walcott return to the global fold after missing Euro 2016.

Meanwhile, Allardyce has also backed his decision to give a first call-up to Michael Antonio after comparing his breakthrough at West Ham with Jamie Vardy’s impressive last campaign at Leicester City.

“You would hope the captain would make a decision on the pitch if he felt it needed to [be made]”. Meanwhile, the new boss has also hailed his “difficult” decision to overlook Ross Barkley, but added the Everton starlet still has the door open ahead of the future.

“He has made a massive impact in the last few years and we felt the experience with the Under 21 would be the best thing for Rashford during this worldwide break”. “What sort of pre-season they have had, what happened last season, the start they’ve had to this season and looking at the balance of the squad”. Also out from the squad chosen by Hodgson for the finals in France is Marcus Rashford, who will play for the England Under-21s, and James Milner, who announced his retirement from worldwide football.

The 26-year-old midfielder joined West Ham from Nottingham Forest for £7 million last year, having played for Reading, Sheffield Wednesday and Southampton since starting his career at Tooting & Mitcham.

The Jose Mourinho era has begun at Old Trafford with Manchester United’s best start to a Premier League season in five years.

“I didn’t, no”, he said when asked if he had made commiseration calls. “The quality of the player that has shown through in every league he has played”.

Allardyce will confirm his England skipper on tuesday, while current captain Wayne Rooney is set to be utilised in a more advanced position than under Hodgson, irrespective of his listing as a midfielder when the squad was announced. We will keep an eye on everybody and who’s to say the squad will be the same next time. I won’t really know that until I speak to Joe, and that’ll be the same with most players when they arrive [to see] what frame of mind they’re in and how they are from a mental and psychological point of view.

“It’s going to be tomorrow (the captain announcement) and the captain and a few players will be doing some press”.

Mourinho and City manager Pep Guardiola will renew their rivalry when the two Manchester clubs meet on September 10 at Old Trafford, and Rooney said there was an air of excitement ahead of the eagerly anticipated clash.

“I’m overwhelmed”, he said, per The Guardian.

We controlled possession and stood up physically to Stoke, particularly when they came at us in the second half.

“Hopefully we don’t have to do too many like that but it feels nice when that happens”.

“And that’s a bit of a concern”, Allardyce added, having spent almost six weeks picking the squad for England’s first major match since exiting Euro 2016 in the last 16.

‘Then we’ve got the Club England area, which is the business end of what we do before we get to training.

“I think it will be hard in Slovakia and we have to plan for them playing on their own patch and us trying to break them down”.