Hodgson can shape England’s future – Jagielka

Everton central defender Jagielka was promoted to the squad after Manchester City midfielder Gareth Barry was ruled out through injury on Monday.

The former Sheffield United youngster is looking forward to his first major tournament with his country and believes a strong end to the campaign with Everton has helped him be selected by Hodgson.

Now Jagielka is keeping his fingers crossed Hodgson can end England’s 46-year wait for a major trophy even though he accepts expectation levels are lower than at previous finals.

Jagielka said: “I’m sure if we win a game, we will be favourites and, if we lose, we will be regarded as a waste of space.

“It would be better for the squad if there was a little bit less expectation on us.

“Hopefully we can go under the radar until the latter stages of the tournament and get further than we have done before.

“If we are being realistic, we haven’t won anything for a number of years now and maybe that is because we don’t deserve to.

“Hopefully this time around we can perform a little bit better and see where it takes us.”

Hodgson enjoyed previous international success with Switzerland and Jagielka believes he can quickly make his mark on the squad.

He said: “I think he can impose his ideas, the tactical knowledge and how he wants the team to shape up and how he wants us to play.

“We’ve all been playing for a number of years. It’s not like it is a new game for us but he can put his thoughts across on the training ground.

“He and Ray Lewington will be out on the training ground getting us to play the way they want us to play.

“Hopefully they can find the missing ingredient to put us through to the latter stages of the tournament.”

Jagielka has been called up by Hodgson after impressing during the 1-0 weekend friendly win in Norway.

He said: “It was disappointing not to be in the original 23 but the manager was very honest and up front with me.

“He said ‘would you come and join up and be on standby and play a part in the Norway game and, if anything does happen you are in with a shot for going to the Euros?’

“As it is, I got to play 90 minutes, which was fantastic, and a few days later I’ve made the 23.

“With Gareth Barry going out, I’m sure (Phil) Jones can play midfield if he needs to and it was always going to be a lottery of which player the manager chose.

“If you look at having two players for every position, we were one defender light and thankfully for me, I got the nod.”

Jagielka added: “I think Everton’s strong end to the season helped me to get into the squad.

“It’s a frustrating time at Everton. We always seem to start the season quite slow and finish off one as one of the form teams for the second half of the season.

“You will have to ask the manager if that was the reason I made the squad or not. But when you are playing well in a successful team, you are bound to be playing a lot better.”

Jagielka admits he enjoys playing alongside Joleon Lescott, his former Everton team-mate who has tasted Barclays Premier League title glory with Manchester City.

He said: “Myself and Joleon have known each other for 10 years now, back to youth level with England, and we played a lot together at Everton as well.

“He got a fantastic move to Man City and has won a Premier League medal this season. His career has gone onto fantastic things and I think I’ve done okay for myself.

“It’s always nice to have a familiar face next to you, especially in international football, because the standard is so high.

“From the three games myself and Joleon have played together, we’ve had three wins.

“If you look at it from that point of view, he’ll just be as happy as I am with the results we’ve had.”

Hull City defender Paul McShane will go to this summer’s Euro 2012 finals after his Republic of Ireland team-mate Kevin Foley was axed from Giovanni Trapattoni’s 23-man squad.

The Wolves defender has spent the last week desperately trying to shake off a hamstring injury and trained with his team-mates on Monday. However, his name was not among the 23 submitted to UEFA yesterday lunchtime when the final squad was confirmed with 24th man McShane getting the nod instead.

Trapattoni said: “With the injuries that we experienced in the squad over the past week, I have had to make a tough decision when it comes to naming the 23 players that must be submitted to UEFA for the championship.”

McShane is not a Hull regular and spent loan spells at Barnsley and Crystal Palace over the last two seasons.

Foley is the second man from the initial 23 to miss out following the departure of Keith Fahey at the weekend as former Doncaster Rovers star Paul Green flew in to take his place.