The Cottagers host Manchester United in the quarter-final tomorrow and while Hodgson is not willing to join the ranks of critics who believe the Portuguese winger is guilty of blatant diving, he does concede defenders can be tempted into conceding soft penalties against him.

Ronaldo was booked for going to ground too easily in the Carling Cup final - an incident Hodgson is undecided on, but he has warned Konchesky to be careful the decisions do not go against him at Craven Cottage.

"To be fair, I don't think in the situations I've seen there's been a lot of blatant diving (from Ronaldo) these days. But at the speed he goes at, when he loses control of the ball and people are in there making attempted challenges, the referee has a difficult task on his hands," said Hodgson.

"Take the penalty incident in the Carling Cup final; I must have watched that 15 times and I'm still not 100% convinced either way.

"I don't think Ronaldo is definitely diving and I'm not convinced he was definitely fouled by Ledley King.

"Ronaldo is the greatest example in our league but there are other wingers who run with the ball at pace and when you are confronted with that you have to be aware that with a rash challenge on your part, with the speed of the player going past you, you could be giving away a penalty without attempting to do anything other than make a tackle.

"Manchester United switch the play very well, so if Paul Scholes has hit a 70-yard pass at the speed of light onto Ronaldo's boot and your full-back, Paul Konchesky in this case, is trying to get out there, it's a dangerous situation.

"Discipline, caution, staying on your feet, being prepared to run with someone, being prepared to accept he might go past you and that you'll need to make a second effort, they are the crucial factors for us tomorrow."

Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger has been quoted this week as saying that Ronaldo's "arrogance" provokes rough treatment by some of his markers.

Hodgson refused to echo those claims but the former Inter Milan coach does believe the winger's on-field attitude may be more appreciated in Serie A than it is by rival supporters in England.

"I don't know him well enough to know if he's arrogant. He's confident, though," said Hodgson.

"They used to tell me Len Shackleton had the trick of beating his opponent so well that he would tie him in knots, then he would sit on the ball and wait for him to come back again. I haven't seen Ronaldo do that yet.

"But someone who is confident in his play will always run the risk of being called arrogant.

"In Italy, people accept that someone with great ability shouldn't be afraid to strut his stuff and that would be acceptable."

Hodgson also drew a line under John Pantsil's complaints about being "abused" during the midweek defeat to Hull.

The defender was visibly riled by comments made to him but after consulting the player no further action will be taken.

Hodgson said: "We've put that to bed. John was furious but I've asked him if he wants me or the club to pursue it and he's said he doesn't. He wants to forget about it and I want to forget about it too."