We need Wayne Rooney back quickly: Roy Hodgson

Wayne Rooney will step straight back into the England side when he has recovered from his gashed thigh. Roy Hodgson, who has been in contact with the injured Manchester United attacker, underlined Rooney's importance to England yesterday. "The sooner he comes back into our fold the better," said Hodgson.

Rooney's return, probably in time for next month's World Cup qualifiers against San Marino and Poland, confirms Hodgson's total faith in him and contains ramifications for clubmates. Tom Cleverley currently has possession of the England No 10 shirt, and Hodgson has always said Rooney's best position is in the hole.

Rooney can also play up top. Danny Welbeck excelled coming off the bench to win the penalty for Frank Lampard to give England a 1-1 draw with Ukraine on Tuesday. Welbeck reminded everyone that for all Jermain Defoe's talents, the United youngster is well-suited to that front-running role. A Rooney-Welbeck axis, which Hodgson used at Euro 2012, could be resumed.

One thing is for sure. For all the criticism that follows Rooney around, he is a starter for Hodgson. "We'll get the best out of him because he's desperate to play for England," said Hodgson. "He's an excellent footballer and quality is permanent. I've spoken to him of course. He's had a nasty injury and we're hoping he gets over it as soon as possible. The sooner he comes back into our fold the better because we are short of experienced and quality front players in England. We are blessed with quite a few very good midfielders." Michael Carrick is one of them. Rooney's club-mate started neither of England's opening qualifiers but Hodgson insists that he is very much part of England's plans. "Michael Carrick's got a good future. We like him, he's a good player but I was pleased with the way Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard were performing."

Gerrard's suspension against San Marino, following his late sending off against Ukraine, offers an obvious opportunity for Carrick, although Hodgson will hope to have Jack Wilshere available. The Arsenal midfielder is back in first-team training, although nobody will rush his return after being out with ankle and knee problems since August 2011. Blending young and old is the fine balancing act for Hodgson to achieve as he seeks to qualify for Brazil. He drew positives from the game with Ukraine, observing that it was all part of the learning curve for Cleverley, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Welbeck, Daniel Sturridge and Ryan Bertrand.

"This will be a very, very good experience for those five young players who were thrust into the fray and had to battle to get a result from the game. Bertrand, Sturridge and Welbeck [his subs] made a difference."

Hodgson understood the dangers of youngsters being overhyped. "It's nice when a player comes on the scene like Cleverley and Oxlade-Chamberlain and they have excellent games [against Moldova] and everyone writes them up and says 'fantastic we've got two excellent young players here'. I'm afraid the flip side of the coin for them is when they play the next game and it doesn't go quite so well the praise will be replaced by a little bit of criticism and it will be suggested they need more time."

Hodgson admitted they needed to work on their finishing, but England also need to keep the ball better and demonstrate more guile against opponents who flood midfield and defence. Ukraine played a classic visitors' game. They allowed England's centre-halves, Phil Jagielka and Joleon Lescott, to have the ball, dropped deep, defended in numbers and then counter-attacked swiftly when England showed their usual inability to retain possession.

Lescott gave the ball away for Yevhen Konoplianka's goal. Hodgson was never going to criticise a player but his response was slightly disturbing. "You are talking about individual technical errors and that's part of football," he said, overlooking the serial problem that England are handicapped by continually making individual technical errors.

"We were just unfortunate that having given it away the guy scores such a wonder goal from 20-odd yards. His shot might fly over the crossbar and you forget all about it, but when it goes into the roof of the net you analyse every single detail of how you lost the ball." These are the fine lines which strangle England.

Hodgson struck a defiant note when suggesting that England could win in Ukraine on Sept 10, 2013. "We are more than capable of going anywhere in the world and getting results as we've shown in the past," said Hodgson.

It promises to be a high-profile as well as high-stakes year: the FA, which is celebrating its 150th anniversary, confirmed friendlies with Brazil on Feb 6 and the Republic of Ireland on May 29, both at Wembley.