England boss Roy Hodgson has admitted that he was surprised to hear of Montenegro coach Branko Brnovic's comments prior to their World Cup qualification clash on Tuesday.
The Montenegro manager claimed that the Three Lions were "scared" ahead of the clash, while he also blasted the Football Association's decision to pencil in friendly matches for November, when the playoff matches would take place.
"It's definitely mind games. I'm surprised he thinks defeats don't hurt. We are confident we have good players and we accept responsibility," Hodgson told reporters at a press conference.
"I'm not surprised the FA have pencilled in matches because most teams will have pencilled them in for November, but I'm not sure who those matches would be against.
"Our focus is on the end of October when we play Poland at home and we're hoping we'll qualify. If we haven't we'll try to do that in November."
Hodgson also suggested that Chris Smalling and Joleon Lescott would continue in central defence for the European clash, with Steven Caulker and Steven Taylor taking their places on the bench.
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