Roy Hodgson wants to hold clear the air talks with Brendan Rodgers after the pair’s conflict took another twist this week.
Hodgson and Rodgers have endured a strained relationship ever since the Liverpool manager accused the England boss of exacerbating Daniel Sturridge’s thigh injury by mis-handling the striker’s recovery from September’s international against Norway.
The pair clashed again last month over another Liverpool star, Raheem Sterling.
Rodgers was annoyed with Hodgson for going public with the fact that Sterling asked to “sit out” England’s Euro 2016 qualifier against Estonia.
“He (Sterling) said, ‘I’m feeling tired, I’d rather sit this one out’,” Hodgson told BBC Radio after the 1-0 win in Tallinn.
Rodgers hit back shortly after, denying Sterling had said such a thing.
The saga took another bizarre turn on Thursday when Hodgson denied ever saying that Sterling had told him he did not want to take part in the game in Tallinn.
“I never said that Raheem said he was too tired to play,” Hodgson said.
“He did play. He came on and got us the free-kick which won the game. I said he said he was too tired before training and as a result I left him out of the team.”
Regardless of what Hodgson did actually say, he was unhappy to hear Rodgers’s version on national radio.
“In actual fact, Brendan is wrong to do that,” Hodgson added.
“Unfortunately I have 30 witnesses to that extent and Brendan was not there.
“If that is all it is, he got the wrong end of the stick and I would be happy to put him right and I would be happy to talk to him about it.”
Hodgson insisted he enjoyed a “fine” relationship with Rodgers, but reports said the Liverpool manager has not picked up the phone to speak to Hodgson despite several attempts by the England boss.
The pair have exchanged texts, but Rodgers again did not return Hodgson’s call when he rang him on Wednesday to inform the Liverpool manager he had left Sturridge out of his squad for the upcoming double-header against Slovenia and Scotland to help him recover from injury.
“I left a message for him. Basically it was to tell him that I understood Daniel Sturridge was not fit and there was no need to call me back,’’ Hodgson added.
“It was just to let him know I understood Sturridge so in any questions I was going to get then the answers I was going to give he would understand them and be happy with, hopefully.’’