Scott Parker has spoken of his relief at being fit for England's Euro 2012 campaign after experiencing Champions League woe at Tottenham.
Parker: Determined to impress Hodgson
Parker was sidelined for the final games of the Premier League season with an Achilles problem and then saw Chelsea's dramatic win over Bayern Munich in the Champions League final cost Spurs a place in Europe's top domestic competition.
But the midfielder was able to gain some comfort from playing 55 minutes of England's friendly win against Norway in Oslo on Saturday.
Parker said: "It was my first game for a while and I'm pleased I've come through it. It felt good and I felt fine.
"I had trained for the previous three days and it's the first time I trained for a while and it felt okay. I was relieved.
"It probably couldn't have come at a worse time really, the injury, for Tottenham as well, coming at the back end of the season after doing so well.
"Obviously I wanted to be part of that and to miss out left the fear I might miss out on the Euros at well. I am glad things have cleared up a little bit and I am ready to go."
Parker was on holiday as he watched events unfold in the Champions League final eight days ago.
He said: "I was away with the family in Dubai for a few days and I was watching it on my laptop and the screen was tiny!
"I was disappointed. We worked so hard to get to fourth spot in the Premier League.
"Obviously to lose the Champions League spot at that late stage was disappointing."
Parker admits the players already have a clear idea of what is expected from them by new England manager Roy Hodgson.
He said: "It is a different manager with different ideas. You have to adapt as players as quick as possible.
"We are all playing at different clubs and have different styles of play and he has set us up and told us how to play and we tried to do it against Norway.
"It is about being tactically aware and disciplined as a team which you have to be at international level. You could see it with their team. They were very disciplined and hard to break down at times.
"It is very clear what the manager wants and he can get that across very, very well. So that is clear.
"We are always a threat on the break and, as always, if you can have a solid foundation to build on you can hurt teams, and we certainly have the individuals to do that.
"I am sure over the next week to 10 days we will take things from this and we will drill a bit more and have a better idea of things."
Source : http://soccer365.com//news/european_news/general/17291/parker_fit_and_ready_for_euros
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