Jay Rodriguez need not be too downhearted by his performance for England against Chile on Friday night according to the man whose opinion matters on the subject, England boss Roy Hodgson

Quoted in the Lancashire Telegraph due to Rodriguez connections with Burnley, Hodgson admitted that it had been a tough introduction to International football for the Saints player.

Hodgson said: “It was a very tough one for Jay, I thought.

“Jay was fine. He worked hard, did all the right things and he must not in any way be disappointed with his performance.

“He is a guy we will keep watching. It was a tough one for him to come in and play in, especially when we were 1-0 down early on and Chile had their tails up.”

The England manager clearly rates J Rod as one for the future and seems to comment about his potential more often than he does about Rodriguez potential rivals for a berth in the England squad, which obviously is a good sign for the player.

Whether Rodriguez gets on the plane to Brazil or not is still a long way off and there are many things that will decide that not least the players form for Saints, however I just have the feeling that what might give Rodriguez the edge over several of the other hopefuls for a place in the squad is his ability to play in several different positions, Hodgson himself has hinted at this, which makes me think that perhaps Jay has a better chance of going than either Adam Lallana or Rickie Lambert, whilst their form is better than Rodriguez overall this season, they play in specific roles and are unlikely to be able to force out the likes of Wayne Rooney or Andros Townsend as first choice in their position unless its through injury, therefore for fringe players as all of our current England trio are likely to be what could push them up in the pecking order is what else they bring to the table and in that respect Rodriguez does offer more.

Im not saying that he is currently better than either Lambert or Lallana, but what I am saying is that if the last place in the squad is between the three of them, and then Hodgson has to decide to take a striker or midfielder, he might just think that in Rodriguez he has got both.

Photo: Action Images

halftimeorange added 12:13 - Nov 18 The rest of the England team made the two Saints players look bad. England was totally outclassed by Chile and Hodgson's more seasoned players would have been anable to disrupt their flow. In fact, Saints collectively would have performed better. As for Rodrigues I don't think he's the finished article. For my money, of the three Saints currently being considered, only Lallana will be on that plane.

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stmichael added 12:46 - Nov 18 Its Ricky or Carroll. Why on earth would Roy have a 31 year old in the squad now if that was not the case? Jay has no chance of making the squad. In fact he might not be in th Saints team for much longer when Osvaldo is fit. To suggest he can play midfield is pushing it. Adam has a great chance of replacing Milner in my opinion..
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SaintNick added 13:09 - Nov 18 I think your right it is Rickie or Carroll, but its also Rickie or Osvaldo in the Saints team, since we scrapped trying to fit them both in the same team we have looked better balanced and had some great performances, when we had them both in, yes we won the odd game or two but we struggled against the likes of Palace and Swansea. I think you know that we are better with only one playing, but I also think like many you know that not many teams leave their £15 million record signing on the bench for too long and that the moment that Rickie doesn't perform he will find himself dropped as he did at man utd, I think its great that he keeps confounding his critics, but the writing is on the wall, Osvaldo came here to be top dog and central striker. By midfield I meant wide left, we should be praising all our England players not rubbishing them, take the Rickie lambert glasses off sometime Mike he has to be taken on merit not reputation and its great at the moment that he is in on merit for Saints, lets hope it continues because many a team has come a cropper trying to play their best players instead of their best "team"

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ItchenNorth added 13:24 - Nov 18 Tbh I was surprised JRod was picked in the squad anyway, hes not ready. Can anyone really see him making the 25 on the plane to Brazil ! Hodgson does this all the time; picks a player off the back of a couple stand out weekends (think Sterling, Barkley and so on). Townsend took his chance JRod unfortunately didn't. For me out of the three Saints players Lallana has the best change of going to Brazil because he offers something different. Lambert is in with a decent shout too, if nothing more than an option off the bench. Lambert seized his chance; JRod didn't. Fingers crossed JRod gets another look in tomorrow though.

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slynch added 14:08 - Nov 18 Hey! StNick, What you been drinking? I wanna get some for Christmas! :D
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SaintNick added 14:21 - Nov 18 I think J Rod has a better chance of going to Brazil with England than Saints have of finishing in the top 4 this season, so what I have been drinking cant have been a strong as many saints fans on the internet
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stmichael added 14:39 - Nov 18 I am an unashamed massive fan of Ricky Lambert. But its not Ricky Tainted Glasses his performances and record speak for themselves. My issue with you Nick(and it not personal) is that considering this guy is probably in the top 3 of any player in history when you look at contributions to the team you dont show him the due respect. And he is still doing it. MLT wgho is our greatest ever player did tail off considerably at the end and his last 2 seasons were very patchy. Ricky is in his prime. You advocated that Lee Barnard should have played in front of him when we were in league 1. You advocated that JROD would and should replace him when we first made the premiership and justified this when SRL was left on the bench for the game at Man City. And now you suggest that Osvaldo should replace him in the saints team and JROD the England squad. Now I know you will answer this by saying that you are merely making suggestions and that they are not necessarily your opinion but deep down we both know they ARE your opinions. Hence my defence of one of our greatest players.

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stmichael added 14:39 - Nov 18 I am an unashamed massive fan of Ricky Lambert. But its not Ricky Tainted Glasses his performances and record speak for themselves. My issue with you Nick(and it not personal) is that considering this guy is probably in the top 3 of any player in history when you look at contributions to the team you dont show him the due respect. And he is still doing it. MLT wgho is our greatest ever player did tail off considerably at the end and his last 2 seasons were very patchy. Ricky is in his prime. You advocated that Lee Barnard should have played in front of him when we were in league 1. You advocated that JROD would and should replace him when we first made the premiership and justified this when SRL was left on the bench for the game at Man City. And now you suggest that Osvaldo should replace him in the saints team and JROD the England squad. Now I know you will answer this by saying that you are merely making suggestions and that they are not necessarily your opinion but deep down we both know they ARE your opinions. Hence my defence of one of our greatest players.

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slynch added 14:46 - Nov 18 "The England team will be Hart Walker Smalling Jagielka Cole. Gerrard and Cleverley. Townsend, Lallana Rooney and Sturridge "
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Whatsforpud added 15:31 - Nov 18 There's an awful lot of football to be played between now and the World Cup selection time. It is up to all three players ( and our other English players) to play well and keep in the public focus. Who knows who is going to have the best of times between now and then, but at this point in time, Rodriguez must be down in the pecking order.
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SaintNick added 15:56 - Nov 18 st Michael To take you points in order 1. im a massive fan of Rickie's too but on here I try to be objective. 2, His performances at the end of last season didn't speak for themselves hence why the club spent £15 million on a striker, that's the club not me and all I try and do is take an objective view of what I think may happen next. 3. Rickie Lambert has made a significant contribution to Saints over the past four seasons, im not sure about top 3 though, Paine/Channon/Le Tiss/Davies all spring to mind without thinking, I think Rickie is at a stage where his performances aren't going to get much better, in our history both Bates & McMenemy had a knack of selling on players at their prime for a decent fee and replacing them, Cortese is going along this route make no mistake. 4. I didn't advocate that Barnard should play in front of him, I felt that towards the end of our promotion season in League 1 Barnard was scoring the goals, when he got injured we honestly thought our chances blown. 5. With J Rod I just read the writing on the wall, clearly he was there to replace Rickie, fair play to Rickie for coming back, but im only commenting on the situation, same as Osvaldo, if you think we signed him for £15 million to sit on the bench behind Rickie you are wrong. 6. Again I didn't say that I thought J Rod should be in the England team ahead of Rickie, I commented that I thought he perhaps was a threat to Rickie going due to squad numbers, ie if Carroll is fit and there was a squad place open would they take a third centre forward or a player (form permitting) who could play both on the wing and up front, its all about options Yes you right its my opinion, but my opinion is what I think will happen, NOT what I want to happen and that is a difference, you cant see that because all your can see is your hero, I WANT Rickie to score on Saturday the goal that puts us top of the league, I WANT Rickie to score for Engalnd and go to Brazil, I WANT Rickie to be ever present till the end of the season and score 20 plus goals, but what I WANT to happen is different to what I THINK might happen

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DJI added 09:52 - Nov 19 That interview was aired on Sky Sports News just after the match. The Paper must have been among the assembled journalists there. Personally I think Jay's time will come. He now has a great incentive to have an excellent season with us and put himself in the frame for the Euro qualifiers, when many of the current crop will be moved out to make way for a younger squad.
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