Among the 40 players who were at the afternoon meeting were Jack Wilshere and Danny Welbeck, both of whom are working their way back to fitness from long-term injuries, Daniel Sturridge and goalkeeper Fraser Forster, who has recovered from 10 months out with a serious knee injury.
Hodgson is keen to stress that the players who were at the meeting did not constitute a preliminary squad from which he will choose his 23 for France.
As expected, there were no new players, such as Leicester City’s Danny Drinkwater, who is in line for a call-up for the forthcoming friendlies against Germany and Holland, or Tottenham Hotspur’s Kieran Trippier.
Hodgson and his staff met in the morning to discuss their plans for the debrief and tactical analysis session that they wanted to conduct – going through the last two performances against Spain and France – and which started around 4pm after the players had trained with their clubs. In effect, Hodgson was carrying out a team meeting to bridge the long gap between seeing the players in November and March.
Hodgson is due to be a guest on Match of The Day this Saturday and may be asked for further details as to why he held the meeting.
He may also be asked about Rio Ferdinand’s comments to the Indian television station NDTV in which he said he did not think England would make it past the quarter-finals at Euro 2016.
To go through the quarters and the semis and the final of this tournament and potentially win it, you’ve got to beat a France, you’ve got to beat a Germany and/or you’ve got to beat Spain," the former defender said. "I don’t think England will do that.”
- Telegraph