Hodgson defends Rooney withdrawal

Roy Hodgson has hit out at those criticising Wayne Rooney for pulling out of England's crunch World Cup qualifiers against Moldova and Ukraine.

Rooney withdrew from the England squad on Sunday after he suffered a nasty cut to his head following a collision with Phil Jones during a training session at Manchester United.

Red Devils boss David Moyes insisted the injury was a bad one, but that did not stop some fans goading Rooney online with some suggesting that he should follow Paul Ince and Terry Butcher's lead by simply applying a bandage to the wound and play.

Hodgson is amazed that some people rushed to question Rooney's decision to withdraw from the squad.

"It saddens me, this type of thing, especially for a guy like Wayne Rooney," the England manager said.

"It was a horrific injury.

"From my conversations with David and Wayne, it was clear straight away that we were talking about a very serious injury.

"It was a horrendous cut so to suggest you can just put a bandage over it and go and play centre forward in two games at Wayne Rooney's quality it's laughable really, and it's a little bit saddening that in people's desperation to say something, they complain about it.

"You wouldn't find one doctor would say Wayne Rooney could play in those two games."

Rooney, who has 84 caps, responded to the complaints on Wednesday by posting a picture of the gruesome three-inch cut on Facebook with the caption: "Some people seem to be questioning my commitment to the England squad.

"There's nothing I would like more than to be helping the lads in the qualifiers but I'm sure people will see the reason I won't be able to play."