Listen up, lads: Hodgson steps up plans for crushing Italy as England count down to Sunday's showdown

By SPORTSMAIL REPORTER

Down to business: England boss Roy Hodgson speaks with his players at the Hutnik Stadium

England returned to the training ground this morning to ramp up their preparations for Sunday's showdown with Italy.
Roy Hodgson delivered instructions for his troops at their Hutnik base in Krakow as they aim to secure a spot in the Euro 2012 semi-finals.
England are confident that they can beat the Italians in the meeting at Kiev's Olympic Stadium.
It is the first full training session since beating Ukraine, and they will follow a pattern that worked well for them earlier in the week by training there again on Saturday before flying to Kiev for a walk-round the ground.
All 23 members of the squad took part - including Ashley Young, who suffered a knock to the shin in Tuesday's Group D win over Ukraine, and Jermain Defoe, who is back with the squad after flying home to attend his father's funeral.

Pals: Rooney has a chat with Steven Gerrard while Hodgson gives Ashley Cole a nice hug

It was impossible to glean England's likely starting line-up from a practise exercise between those wearing bibs and those not during the open part of the session, with players who started against Ukraine scattered among the two teams.
Meanwhile, Glen Johnson has claimed England deserved more respect for their Euro 2012 exploits.
England have flourished despite going into the tournament having trained only a handful of times under new manager Hodgson.

Raring to go: England's players are enjoying life under the management of Hodgson


All smiles: Wayne Rooney shares a joke in training as he prepares to take on Italy on Sunday

Asked if they warranted more respect from their critics, Liverpool full-back Johnson said: 'Yeah, I guess so. But, inside the camp, no-one thinks like that. It's only people outside the camp. So, it's not really important.'
England are also planning to defeat Italy on a computer screen before they even get on the pitch.
Sportsmail has learned of the detail involved in Hodgson's plans to advance to the last four.
Such is the swift turnaround of games here, Hodgson must quickly revise for the next examination, preparing the players for the threat posed by the Italians.
That includes absorbing the information supplied by Ian Butterworth, a former Norwich and Nottingham Forest defender and the England scout who has watched all three of Italy's group games.
Meanwhile, Gary Neville and Ray Lewington are working with the two England video technicians, Andy Scoulding and Steve O'Brien.
Scoulding is Liverpool's head of technical analysis and worked with Hodgson at Fulham, too. O'Brien is the Football Association's senior football analyst.

Centre of attention: Glen Johnson walks past the media at the training session

Upbeat: Joe Hart relaxes at the England team hotel in the centre of Krakow

They studied Italy's matches, not just here at Euro 2012 but prior to that, searching for weaknesses and seeking an edge.
All the information is then condensed and will be presented in a 20-minute team meeting with the players.
The presentations are slick in their delivery, the coaches using infra-red zappers to make their points with carefully edited DVD footage of the team they are playing.
The aim, as one FA official explained, is not to overload the players with too much information at one time.
'Whatever the outcome on Sunday night, we won't suffer for a lack of preparation,' said the official and this was echoed by England goalkeeper Joe Hart.

Looking smart: England kit man Tom McKechnie prepares training kit at the team hotel in Poland

Feeding ground: England head chef Tim De'Ath prepares lunch for the players on Thursday

'We're very well prepared,' said Hart. 'We know everything about all the teams we play against.' At times during a training session, Hodgson will direct a player much like a
Grandmaster moves a chess piece. It will be slow and precise, such is the England manager's meticulous approach; his attention to detail.
As well as his coaching drills, he will surprise his players by calling them together to tell a joke now and again.
The other day he told the fable of the scorpion and the frog; of how a scorpion persuades a frog to carry him across a river by pointing out that they will both drown if he stings him.
Except that the scorpion does sting the frog and with his last breath, paralysis setting in, the frog asks why.
'It's my nature,' says the scorpion before they both slip beneath the surface of the water.


Rivals: Italy, who are also based in Krakow, are stepping up their preparations

The point? The players were laughing too much to digest what Hodgson was saying. But right now it remains in England's nature to play a certain way and their boss is sticking to that plan.
He leaves the players in no doubt as to the role they must perform; both as individuals and as a team.
When it comes to the final team talk, in the dressing room before they head out into the tunnel, Hodgson keeps things very simple. He delivers a short, sharp speech to the group; a few rousing words.
By then, though, the work has been done, even if Hodgson has chosen to follow matches at this tournament in the way he would as a club manager.
There would be two recovery days after a game and it has been no different here, despite the short time to prepare between matches.
It is why those meetings - and the transfer of information to the players - is so important.

source: dailymail