NEW YORK WHOLESALE

Roy Hodgson has insisted he will not sacrifice England's old guard despite planning wholesale changes when the team begin the rebuilding process after their Euro 2012 disappointment.

Hodgson will name a young, experimental side for the friendly against Italy in Switzerland on 15 August but the England manager will keep faith with his over-30s once the World Cup qualifying campaign gets under way in Moldova on 7 September, followed by a home game against Ukraine four days later.

Steven Gerrard, who will be 34 just before the 2014 World Cup, has already assured him he wants to continue as captain and Hodgson also expects John Terry and Ashley Cole, who will both be 33, to remain part of the squad. "They have given me every reason to believe they are very anxious to continue," he said. "John Terry has been excellent, as has Ashley, as has Steven. So I've not even thought of asking the question: 'Will you continue?' Because they would have to knock me over with a feather if they came to me and said 'I'm not'."

The England manager also named the 34-year-old Frank Lampard and the 31-year-old Gareth Barry as players who could improve this team, pointing to the example of Germany for mixing the right blend of ages. "Everyone has seen how well Germany have kicked on since 2006. They have brought in younger players and the older ones are still performing to a good level. We have to take heart from that."

His priority will be to "evaluate some of the players who haven't been here", meaning call-ups for the likes of Chris Smalling, Tom Cleverley, Jack Rodwell and, fitness permitting, Jack Wilshere for the August friendly.

"I think you will definitely see some revolution there because that game is going to be the ideal opportunity. After that, we go to the September qualifiers and we will have to mix the two together. We have to retain our defensive discipline, organisation and teamwork and make certain we retain the desire to be part of an England team, to go the extra mile.

"The next question is: 'Can we improve the quality?' and that's something we'll have to work at and I'll have to look very carefully at. If we accept, at the moment, teams such as Germany and Spain are better than us, let's work hard to try to narrow that gap."

England's average possession was 39%, their worst figure in a major tournament since 1980, and Hodgson admitted that they had been "wasteful" during their four games. "We gave it away far too often for our own good in areas where we didn't expect to," he said. "It is obvious when you are chasing the ball it affects your fatigue levels. If you are saying: 'Could we have kept the ball better at times and made more use of the good situations we got into', I would have to agree with that. The players realise that, too. That is an area of the game where we need to keep working and improving."

Hodgson also admitted being disappointed with Wayne Rooney's contribution before going out on penalties against Italy. "When he missed the first two games we were all believing that what we need to do now is get to the third game and Wayne Rooney will win us the championships. That maybe was too much to ask of him. He certainly tried very hard but he didn't have his best game and I think he would admit that."

England have now lost six out of seven penalty shootouts but Hodgson argued they were not underprepared. "Nothing you can do can ever prepare you for the moment. It is like having a virtual reality department in golf for the putt that is going to win you the Open Championship, coming down the final hole and all you need to do is par it and you put the ball into the water.

"What can possibly prepare you for those types of things? We practised. We talked about it. We knew where their penalty-takers were going to take their shots. We did all the things that one can possibly do from a professional point of view. But it still doesn't change the fact that [Andrea] Pirlo has the incredible confidence to chip the goalkeeper.

"Our players were desperately trying to take the penalties they practised. Unfortunately it didn't come off. Penalty shootouts are a game within themselves. Maybe we have got to get better at both games. Maybe we have to get better at the 90-minute game and then the penalties."