Tottenham Hotspur striker Emmanuel Adebayor has apologised for his red card against former club Arsenal and insists there was no malice in his challenge on Santi Cazorla.
Adebayor had given Spurs a dream start at Emirates Stadium by scoring the opening goal after 10 minutes, but he was sent off just eight minutes later for a lunging tackle on Cazorla.
Spurs went on to lose the North London derby 5-2 and Adebayor has accepted he let everyone down by being dismissed.
"I completely understand my sending off changed the entire outcome of the game and I whole-heartedly apologise to my team-mates, the manager and all the Tottenham fans for letting them down," Adebayor told The Sun.
"But I must stress that my challenge was not malicious in any way whatsoever.
"I was genuinely trying to win the ball and probably stretched my foot out a bit too far in the heat of the moment.
"Nobody could have felt more devastated than me as I walked off the pitch.
"I so much wanted to help Tottenham win and thought for a moment that I'd actually set that win up when I scored, but football changes so quickly.
"One minute a hero, the next a villain."
Around every game since he was installed as Fabio Capello's successor in May, there has been a side issue to be dealt with, all of which centred around John Terry and that infamous day at Loftus Road in October last year.
From selecting Terry for Euro 2012 and leaving Rio Ferdinand out, through the Chelsea skipper's blast at the Football Association for their handling of his racism case and subsequent abandonment of the national cause, to retiring his one-time defensive partner on the Jubilee Line.
The whole sorry saga has clouded what has been a decent start to Hodgson's tenure.
Finally, it appears, the time to move on has come.
"I have moved on from it. The team have moved on from it," he said.
"We can never dictate what is being done on the outside. All we can do is control our own environment and already we think we have some pretty interesting alternatives.
"Phil (Jagielka) and Joleon (Lescott) have done well. (Gary) Cahill and (Steven) Caulker did well against Sweden and I am also looking for (Chris) Smalling and (Phil) Jones.
"That is what I have to do. I have to hope that amongst that group of players - and maybe someone else will come on the scene and force his way in - I can find a couple of players who can do the job in the way John and Rio were when they were playing a few years ago."
Form considerations over Joe Hart aside, central defence does look like the area of most weakness for England at present. It was certainly exposed late on in Wednesday's 4-2 friendly defeat to Sweden.
Certainly there is far more of Hodgson's authoritative stamp on the sides he has been turning out this autumn compared to the hastily cobbled together group he took to Euro 2012.
It is hard, for example, to imagine Jordan Henderson operating as first choice back up in midfield as he was in Poland and Ukraine.
Even without calling upon Gareth Barry, and with doubts over the future of Frank Lampard, Hodgson has benefited from the effectiveness of Tom Cleverley and Leon Osman in that role, not mentioning Steven Gerrard and Jack Wilshere.
"I would like to think it is my team," he said.
"The players are very much committed to what we are trying to do. We have seen that in all the games so far, irrespective of results.
"I can only hope I will get enough contact with them because to really get a team playing the type of assured football we want they need the coaching, video and talking time."
As is the lot of an international manager, Hodgson must now cross his fingers that key players avoid serious injury and get through to the February 6 friendly with Brazil, and more importantly, the key World Cup double-header against San Marino and Montenegro in March unscathed.
It is an impossible dream of course.
But of all the players he would want to stay away from the treatment table, Hodgson would probably choose Wilshere, who is taking the first tentative steps on his comeback trail after 17 months out.
For, with skipper Steven Gerrard possibly in the most consistent form of his entire international career, the prospect of that pair combining is a mouthwatering one.
"We all know what Steven has been doing, continues to do and hopefully will continue to do," said Hodgson.
"His performance against Sweden was quite outstanding.
"We have not had chance to think about Jack because for the last 17 months he has not been available.
"It is great to see him back now and by the time February comes around, hopefully he will be playing on a regular basis for Arsenal, getting his match fitness and other faculties back to the highest level and honing them up."
The 33-year-old is currently plying his trade in China for Shanghai Shenhua but has recently been linked with a move back to the Premier League.
Allardyce, who has guided the Hammers to sixth place in the table after the opening 11 fixtures, signed Anelka for Bolton for a then-club record fee in the summer of 2006 and revealed he would like to work with the France striker once again.
"It could interest me, of course it could," he said.
"It would be of interest if that is a possibility financially for us and he wanted to come.
"I have had no conversations with Nicolas' agent or anything like that at this time."
Anelka was seen as a marquee signing for Wanderers when he was signed from Turkish side Fenerbahce and his form at the Reebok Stadium earned him a big move to Chelsea a year and a half later.
Allardyce, who has yet to see big-name summer signing Andy Carroll score for the Hammers, believes Anelka transformed his Bolton side into a team that could challenge at the right end of the table.
He said: "His professionalism and dedication was why he was such a good player and we never had problems at Bolton at the time he was with us.
"He was the difference - he was the reason we went into the top end, the top four, rather than the top eight."
Much has been made over the years of Anelka's demeanour on and off the pitch but Allardyce reckons the perception of the former Arsenal and Real Madrid forward is off the mark and hopes the family man could be tempted to head back to London.
Asked whether he ever had a problem with Anelka's questionable temperament Allardyce said: "He never was like that in his entire time I had him.
"He was disappointed I left, when he came and played for me I had him at a very, very good time - probably at the height of his career, I would think, because he had matured into a dedicated professional.
"I think he has always been dedicated but he got sidetracked by certain situations through his younger days but he learnt from that, his experience across Europe.
"He had a girlfriend, who is now his wife, and his family and I think that has matured him - I think Nicolas has still got his family here in London, I don't think they moved out to China."
One stumbling block for a potential deal would come if Anelka refused to take a drop in his wages as he is currently reported to be earning around ?250,000 a week in China.
He has also been linked with a return to Liverpool or a move to fellow strugglers QPR but all three clubs would be hard pushed to fork out the sort of money the Frenchman is currently bringing in from Shenhua.
