TO THE END HODGSON: You can plan to MOORE: In a survival fight I’m stop Vardy but actually a stickler for rules: We eat stopping him is like trying together, no phones in the to stop Messi & Ronaldo gym and NO FLIP-FLOPS
Crystal Palace Selhurst Park, 3pm
v
Leicester
ROY HODGSON reckons his inside knowledge of Jamie Vardy does not give him an advantage – because knowing Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo does not make them any easier to stop.
The Leicester striker (below) will be the biggest threat to Crystal Palace’s hopes of edging closer to safety today.
Hodgson revealed once considered signing him before becoming Vardy’s first England boss in May 2015.
Asked if that could help snuff out the threat he replied: “No, not really. Everyone knows who Lionel Messi is and Cristiano Ronaldo. It doesn’t stop them scoring loads of goals.
“The reason I know him is because I’ve seen him scoring in the Premier League so I wouldn’t have needed to see him up close to know that.”
Vardy first appeared on Hodgson’s radar when he went to watch him while West Brom boss. Hodgson (left) said: “He was getting good reviews at Fleetwood in the Conference. he Unfortunately it was a game Messi would have found hard because the ball was never on the ground.
It flew over his head for 90 minutes and when it was on the ground there were plenty of crunching tackles.
“The price Fleetwood were looking for West Brom weren’t prepared to pay.”
In the end Leicester took a £1million gamble in 2012, and Vardy came into England contention with an eye-catching 2014-15 debut Premier League campaign, including a starring role in a 5-3 win over Manchester United.
Hodgson said: “In one particular game against a top opponent he had a really strong game. That brought him to everyone’s attention. After that Ray Lewington and myself followed him closely.
“We were thinking, ‘He’s doing this in the Premier League against top opponents every week, we like the qualities we see, let’s invite him to a squad and see how it goes’.
“We’ve been working tactically to make life difficult for him but the fact is good players are good players.” straight here. In the canteen we all sit and eat together – that is generic and standard.
“No mobile phones and if you go in the gym, you don’t wear your flip-flops in the gym, wear your trainers.
“But the biggest thing is to just to respect and value each other and to work hard. That is staff and players all around.
“Those rules have always been here so I am not going to say I brought them in but just reemphasised the points.”
Albion need a win today at Newcastle to keep alive their faint hopes of beating the drop.
England international Daniel Sturridge and Belgian midfielder Nacer Chadli are now fully fit but are struggling to break into the team which has been lifted by the demanding Moore.
He added: “Attention to detail is everybody just doing what their skills sets would be within the football club – do that to the best of your ability.
“It is about us as a group and a togetherness – and in any team you need that.”