Football: English talent pool drying up admits Hodgson

LONDON (AFP) - England manager Roy Hodgson admits the pool of talent available to the national team is drying up fast.

Hodgson has had to scratch around for players over the last week as injuries and illness ravaged his squad for the World Cup qualifiers against Moldova and Ukraine.

With John Terry, Ashley Cole, Theo Walcott, Wayne Rooney, Andy Carroll and Adam Johnson all sidelined, Hodgson ideally needed quality replacements with experience at the highest level. But he was forced to turn to three raw rookies due to the lack of English players currently plying their trade in the Premier League.

Tottenham midfielder Jake Livermore, Southampton midfielder Adam Lallana and Liverpool's 17-year-old winger Raheem Sterling have only one international cap between them and little experience of European football.