Euro 2016: Andy Carroll and Jack Wilshere running out of time to change Roy Hodgson's England plan

England manager has a good idea of his starting line-up against Russia at Euro 2016, but time is running out for fringe player to impress before his 12 May squad deadline

Roy Hodgson says England are not yet experienced enough to win Euro 2016 (Getty)

There are just 26 days before Roy Hodgson names his squad for the European Championships and the England manager is gradually whittling down the contenders. Since the World Cup Hodgson has called up 48 players but around a third can be ruled out having either fallen from form and favour (eg, Stewart Downing, Jack Colback, Calum Chambers, Rickie Lambert), or suffered injury (Jay Rodriguez, Phil Jones and, probably, Luke Shaw). The most recent caps, the Dannys Rose and Drinkwater, have made a late run to be included, but time has presumably run out for the likes of Mark Noble and Aaron Cresswell.

After naming his squad Hodgson has three friendlies, against Turkey (Manchester, May 22), Australia in (Sunderland, May 27) and Portugal (Wembley, June 2) in which to finalise plans ahead of England’s first Euro’16 match against Russia on June 11 in Marseille.

Does he have his first XI in mind?

Yes - but he’s not telling. “Managers always do,” said Hodgson when he met a group of journalists this week. It would, however, “be a major mistake” to reveal it “because you start naming players who, when the time comes around, can't play and people who take their place realise ‘I'm only here because so-and-so is injured’. We don't want that situation.

“We think we know pretty well the players we're working with now, we think we know their capacity, we think we know their strengths and weaknesses. Let's see what happens in the next few weeks.”

Will he pick the injury doubts?

This is Hodgson’s fourth major tournament, one with Switzerland, three with England, and he knows as well as anyone that injuries change plans. In past years injuries to players such as Wayne Rooney and David Beckham have sidetracked England. While the current squad is not dominated by an individual player in the same way there are injury concerns about several players including Rooney, Jack Wilshere, Jordan Henderson, Raheem Sterling and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.

Wayne Rooney has only just returned for Manchester United (Getty)

Naming that quintet Hodgson said: “We have players who could be mechanically fit and capable of taking part in the Euros, but will be returning from very long injuries. There’s no disguising a year ago those were getting into every squad. Things have happened to them and we have to reassess. If we can be sure they are at the level of fitness and level of capability to produce the performances of a year ago they will be serious contenders.

“At the moment I don’t have to worry about that. There’s a month of football still to be played and so much can happen. Two weeks ago we wouldn’t have been talking about Jordan Henderson in that group. He had just played against Germany and played very well. All of sudden he has got injured – what else is going to happen?”

One player back from injury, and in form, is Andy Carroll. Will he go to France?

Probably not. Carroll’s treble against Arsenal last week prompted Rio Ferdinand to tweet: “Put the ball in the box, Carroll will cause havoc. If he stays fit, get him on the plane.” The player himself said: “I 100 per cent want to be a part of [Euro 16]. If I can keep myself fit, work hard, score goals, hopefully it will come.”

The last time Andy Carroll started a competitive match for England he scored. But that was four years ago, against Sweden in Euro 2012. He has not scored for his country since October 2012. Hodgson likes Carroll’s strengths, but he does not sound minded to pick him on such slim evidence.

Andy Carroll's hat-trick was clearly not enough to impress Hodgson (Getty) (2016 Getty Images)

“Who do you want to leave out? We have such a wealth of talent in attack,” said Hodgson. “We know Andy, we know his qualities. In an ideal world, if you had places at your disposal you'd include a guy like him because he is exceptional in the air. It's not out the question. He's a good player. When the time comes and I'm looking at what's available, maybe he'll be there. But I'm certainly not going to pick him on the basis of one hat-trick.”

In case there was any doubt about Hodgson’s scepticism he added that, as far as he was concerned, it was not a hat-trick anyway as Carroll’s second against Arsenal was deflected in off Gabriel.

Are England ready to win Euro 16?

According to theory, No. “It is an exciting time for English football, I think it really is,” said Hodgson, but if you believe what we are led to believe – that the successful teams have players aged 26 to 29 and have 40 to 70 caps – we are not at that stage yet. We can’t be unless we divorce ourselves from the group of players that believe are the right ones – but all they lack in my opinion is experience.”