Up for the battle: Liverpool midfielder Steven Gerrard flies into a tackle

And, it seems England will be going back to the future. Having spent decades edging nervously away from the straight lines of a 4-4-2 formation, they reverted to type in a return to that set-up with a team that might that might have been stamped 'Made in England'.

There was some flexibility, in that either Andy Carroll or Ashley Young would drop deeper to link up at times, but there was precious little fluidity between midfield and attack.

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