Chelsea ace backs England changes

Frank Lampard thinks that Roy Hodgson has already started to change the way England play football with better ball retention against Italy as the evidence.

The Chelsea midfielder, who was the stand-in skipper for the 2-1 victory on Wednesday night, admitted that the Euro 2012 campaign probably came too soon for the coach to implement changes after his later appointment, but expects his modifications to gradually filter through the squad.

Lampard said: “He [Hodgson] had little time to prepare before the Euros which made it difficult for him to get his complete imprint on the team.

“Of course, you can’t compare this game with Italy with the one in the summer because tournament games are the ones you want to win.

“But the manager and his staff have made a big thing of trying to keep the ball more, trying to be positive with our football but keeping the ball, knocking it around and playing from midfield.

“That was the emphasis in training for the past two days and, when you try and do those things in training, and see it work in the game, that’s when you know we’ve had a good few days together.”

Lampard added: “In the tournament, the team played well and, with the flip of a coin, you win the penalty shoot-out and are in the semi-finals and it could be different.

“But there is always time for improvement. As a group collectively we want to improve and the manager made that point.

“I think in the next few months there will be gradual change and it is up to us as players to take it on board.

“You can have the best manager in the world but us players need to try and react, listen to what is happening in training and try and do it out on the pitch.

“It is easy sometimes to do it in training but when you step out into a competitive arena it can be difficult and this Italy game was a good step for us.

“We have done it in a friendly, it is important we do it in next month’s games (World Cup qualifiers).”