SINCE certain members of Terry Venables's European Championship squad were pictured having bottles of spirit poured down their throats, while adopting dental surgery postures in the China Jump Bar in Hong Kong, the image of the average English footballer as a breath test waiting to happen has died hard.

It may or may not be with this in mind that Venables's successor, Glenn Hoddle, is insisting his squad remain at the team hotel For the duration of their seven day preparation for next week's World Cup qualifier against Poland, England's first match back at Wembley since the summer tournament.

Under Venables, the players would have been allowed home at the weekend. Hoddle clearly wants to keep an eye on them all the time.

"They'll have a drink at the right time," Hoddle explained when the players reported for international duty yesterday, "but nothing over the top. They're not schoolboys. They need to be treated like adults. But the situation will be controlled."

Hoddle clearly wants to run England on stricter Continental lines without becoming a martinet. "You have to be flexible," he explained, "but there's a certain line to be drawn. And you never let the players know what sort of line it is. In the past this has always worked in my favour."

During and after the tour to China and Hong Kong which preceded Euro 96, Venables's squad was criticised for its sloppy image and a failure to set proper standards. "The best standard we can set now is to qualify for the 1998 World Cup," Hoddle retorted yesterday. "Image? That's not number one in my mind. The first thing is to qualify."

Hoddle clearly wants his players to adapt to a pre match routine which will be different but not over rigorous. "It's not as if we're going to be training every day," he said. "There'll be a rest period, that is part of the preparation."

Paradoxically, perhaps, the only players who did not report yesterday were the Manchester United trio - Gary Neville, Gary Pallister and David Beckham - who were allowed to fulfil a longstanding commitment to help open a local theme restaurant, The Red Cafe.

Two Liverpool players, Dominic Matteo and Robbie Fowler, missed the first training session yesterday with knee and ankle injuries. Decisions on their fitness will be made at the weekend. Of the two, Matteo looks the most doubtful.