Mercurial talent: Which Zlatan Ibrahimovic will turn up in Kiev?

That would be an even break for Hodgson here, anything more an unexpected bonus; and either way respectability would be restored. Having made a habit of exiting tournaments in chaos, or vulnerable to familiar failings, an England team that beat their inferiors, stifled their superiors and made some small dent on the knockout stages would leave Hodgson in credit and win a few admirers. Whether the new manager can take it to the next level and command respect for England’s style of football is another matter.

The team should include Andy Carroll beside Danny Welbeck, with Ashley Young reverting to the left in place of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain. Not since the days of Michael Owen and Emile Heskey has an England side been sent out for a major match in such a conventional 4-4-2 system.

The emergence of Wayne Rooney as second striker changed the shape of Sven Goran Eriksson’s team and almost every  permutation since has been a variation on a familiar theme. Hodgson’s grand plan is to go back to the future and to a time when England were taken seriously in tournaments. The ones they qualified for, anyway.

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