England captain says ‘aggressive’ approach is paying dividendsWayne Rooney has put England’s improvement down to a newly adopted “aggressive” streak which has yielded seven successive victories as the team seek to recover from finishing bottom of their World Cup group in Brazil.Friday’s trouncing of Lithuania maintained a pristine start to the Euro 2016 qualification campaign, in which Roy Hodgson’s side sit six points clear at the top of the section, and the squad will travel to Italy for Tuesday’s friendly in Turin aiming to prolong the upturn. The manager and his coaching staff had stressed the need to return to basic principles in the wake of the squad’s toils at Brazil 2014, an approach which manifests itself in greater urgency and more pressing to regain possession.
That tactic will be put to the test against Antonio Conte’s side, who are ranked 10th in the world despite their own unimpressive showing last summer, as England aim to reinvent themselves “It’s not so much about being ‘nasty’ but certainly about being aggressive,” said Rooney, who will gain his 103rd cap when they step out at the Juventus Stadium. “Not in a bad way in terms of putting really hard tackles in, but getting up to the ball quickly. We are harrying teams and making them make mistakes.
“You don’t want to go into games and think teams enjoy playing against you. You want teams to look at England and think: ‘We know we have a tough game. It is going to be physically hard against them, we are going to have to defend and we are going to have to be good on the ball to keep it.’ That is what we want teams to feel when they come up against us.
“Certainly, since the World Cup we have done that. At the minute we have the tactics right and it’s moving in a good direction. We have learned with every game since the World Cup and are getting better, and there is an excitement back about England.”
There has been a discernible injection of urgency into this youthful side’s approach, with the manner in which they tore into Lithuania – albeit a side ranked No94 in the world – maintaining the tone from November’s encouraging 3-1 friendly victory in Scotland. A collision with Italy will better scrutinise what progress has been made than the formality of qualifying Group E, with the Football Association now seeking to confirm a series of testing friendlies to be played before Euro 2016.
The two international dates in November which are ostensibly set aside for play-off ties may feature matches against France and Spain and a friendly has been agreed with Germany for March 2016.
Regardless, there is confidence within the set-up that the side’s current approach represents the best way to make a mark at this level. “It has to be the way forward given the energy we have got in the team,” the captain said. “The players are so quick and when we lose the ball we want to be aggressive and win it back quickly. The manager has spoken about those little ‘furies’ that, when we lose the ball, we have to win it back as quickly as possible.
“There are times when you go and don’t get it, but that is where the defence pushes in right behind us to close the space off. With the players we have got, we have to play like that. There will obviously be times where you have to drop back and concede possession because you can’t do it for 90 minutes, but we have to judge when the time is right and when we feel we have the opposition pinned in. That is when we go and win the ball and put teams in uncomfortable positions.”
Rooney will go into the game in Turin two goals shy of Bobby Charlton’s record tally of 49 for England and is expected to be partnered from the start by Harry Kane, a scorer on debut on Friday. With Danny Welbeck, Leighton Baines, Raheem Sterling and James Milner all having rejoined their clubs, a squad of 20 will travel to Italy. Kieran Gibbs and Chris Smalling are likely to start in defence, initially in front of the goalkeeper Joe Hart, with Jack Butland and Ryan Bertrand hoping to gain their second and third caps respectively at some stage.
Theo Walcott, whose appearance as a substitute against Lithuania was a first for his country since September 2013, may also be granted more game-time, with the Arsenal winger conscious he must re-establish his credentials at this level.
“You need to prove yourself, no matter what,” he said. “I had a long-term [knee] injury but not many people would have worked as hard as I did to get back to where I am, to get the shirt back on after such a long injury spell. To be back in an England shirt is a great achievement for me. I’m still easing myself back in, but I had a taste of it against Lithuania and I want more. The competition is only going to spur you on and make you a better player. Bring it on.”
Italy are second in Group H after their 2-2 draw in Bulgaria on Saturday, a game salvaged by the Brazil-born forward Eder’s late equaliser on debut, with the Azzurri a squad apparently on edge. Conte was the subject of internet death threats after the Juve midfielder, Claudio Marchisio, suffered a knee injury in training ahead of the trip to Sofia. They have called up Davide Santon and Iganazio Abate to replace the injured Matteo Darmian and Manuel Pasqual.
By Dominic Fifield / Guardian
