England coach Roy Hodgson has warned Liverpool striker Rickie Lambert and Tottenham winger Andros Townsend they need to be playing regularly to keep their place.
Hodgson remains confident for now at least both men can bring something to the table.
"If I think I am still seeing enough of them at club level to believe that they are still going to be as good as they were when they came with us, I try to keep them on board, but you can't keep people on board forever. Andros and people like Rickie Lambert, they know that," said Hodgson.
"They realise, 'I can't keep expecting to get a call-up when I'm not playing enough football.'
"But at the moment with Andros and with Rickie, I don't think that moment has come where I shall be saying, 'You're not playing enough games from the start, I'm not using you' because I still think when they come with us, they have got something to offer and they can make us better.
"I can't give them any guarantees, but the one thing I absolutely will refuse to do is to have a clear rule that if you play in your first team, you've got a chance of coming; if you don't play in your first team, you haven't.
"I'm not going to make it black and white. It's always going to be a grey area, but as in all grey areas, you've got to constantly analyse and assess."
