Hodgson admits not looking for 'excuses' if England lose to Scotland in friendly

England football team captain Roy Hodgson has admitted that he would leave no excuses if his side does not do justice to themselves against Scotland on Tuesday in their friendly.

And the boss is expecting further evidence that England is on the way back, not just to respectability, but also to the top tier of the international game. Five straight wins has been the only acceptable response to the World Cup shambles, a winning run that would have its biggest test against Scotland.

Hodgson knows Gordon Strachan and his men would turn up the heat and that defeat would not have a big impact on his emerging team, but his message was clear, The BBC reported.

He said that he is not looking for excuses if England doesn't win, adding that he doesn't think they have ever looked for excuses. He also said that the friendlies they have had have been against strong opposition like Italy, Sweden, Germany, Scotland twice, Ireland.

Hodgson said that they have chosen teams who can beat them. He added that when they have beaten England, they have put their hands up and accepted that.

But, the England boss said that the World Cup was a real cold shower for them, a real bad moment. Before the tournament he thought they were doing quite a lot of things they had been hoping for but then they lost two matches and hit a wall.

Hodgson said that they would now play matches against teams who accept England have the better players so they seek to restrict their attacking movements to frustrate them.

Hodgson added that in this game he is expecting both teams to want to win and create chances, which would lead to some counter-attacking football.