Hodgson not happy with Cox comments

08 January 2012 07:46

West Brom boss Roy Hodgson has urged hat-trick hero Simon Cox to knock on his door first before he speaks out of turn about his future.

Cox this week stated he might have to leave The Hawthorns for the sake of his career if he fails to hold down a first team place. The 24-year-old made only his second Barclays Premier League start of the season in Tuesday's 1-0 defeat at Spurs, following that up with a trio of goals in Saturday's 4-2 FA Cup third round triumph over Cardiff.

But Hodgson was clearly unimpressed with Cox's comments, saying: "My thinking has never changed. I've never considered him going elsewhere. I don't know what he's said to the press, but as far as I'm concerned he is a West Bromwich Albion player, and I'm very happy about that."

He added: "Before he makes those statements and gets you all so excited, it might be a good idea if he comes and speaks to me. It's the first I've heard of it."

Hodgson said of the game: "It's good we didn't shoot ourselves in the foot by losing the game. We almost paid a high price after taking a sensible lead and than committing hara-kiri by giving the goals back. All credit to Cardiff they pressured us well, they didn't make it easy for us at any stage.

"But luckily we were able to get the third goal which put us on the front foot again, and after that we had a lot of chances to add to that, but we only scored once."

City boss Malky Mackay admitting to being "very proud" of his team given the number of changes he made.

"We managed to get back into the game and looked as if we were on the front foot, but it was a magnificent strike from Cox to take the win," added Mackay.

"We ran a Premier League side very close. At 2-2 I looked across at the opposition dugout and their manager was looking quite animated, so we were certainly doing something right.

"Now we can turn our attention to the game at Selhurst Park."

Source: PA