Despite the 2-1 loss to Italy in Manaus, the positives were there in abundance. Now England must use Rooney in a central role where he can have maximum impact

Feeling the heat: But Wayne Rooney needs to play a more central role against Uruguay

After leaving mosquito country on Sunday, England now have to avoid going out of the World Cup before even finishing their course of malaria tablets. Tasting defeat in the Amazon was a bitter pill to swallow for England, who must find a cure for Wayne Rooney’s lethargy if they are to extend their stay in Brazil. The remedy is simple. Play him in his best position.

The heat map of Rooney’s movement at the sweltering Arena Amazonia, a location resembling one big heat map, revealed that the fifth highest scorer in England history recorded only two touches in the box. The men ahead of him in the scoring charts, Michael Owen, Jimmy Greaves, Gary Lineker and Sir Bobby Charlton, rarely, if ever, were deployed wide by their country, although Owen and Lineker certainly put in shifts out wide when employed by Real Madrid and Barcelona respectively.

They were predators, kept close to their quarry, to the goal. Rooney can play the creator, a trait he proved again with a perfect cross for Daniel Sturridge’s goal but his positioning on the flank otherwise singularly failed to exploit his gifts properly. England need to show Rooney more respect.

Few quibbles could truly be found with Roy Hodgson’s tactics against Italy. There was more pace and adventure in 90 minutes in the rainforest than in 360 minutes in Safari land under Fabio Capello four years ago. The handbrake was off, youth was given a chance, and England played with real verve at times. Here was an England team worth watching. They just lost to a nation raised in the art of keeping the ball, a team full of experience like Andrea Pirlo and Daniele de Rossi.

Rather than sobbing and retreating into a more cautious tactical frame of mind, England just need to move Rooney centrally behind Sturridge for Thursday’s game against Uruguay in Sao Paulo when England either go for it or go home. Raheem Sterling can push right and Danny Welbeck go left. They can still interchange. The tactical tweak simply rips the straitjacket off Rooney.

“Of course we want him in the area,” Hodgson said. “I thought he set up the goal really well with that delightful cross. But, yes, we want Wayne in the box, we will get Wayne in the box, and there’s no question we will get him in the box. He certainly worked his socks off for us.”

Hodgson indicated that he was considering playing the same system and personnel against Uruguay. “It will be close,” said Hodgson although he left himself some latitude over the possibility of repositioning Sterling wide. “The more I work with him, the more I see,” Hodgson said.

“At the moment, I am very happy that we can have him in two positions. Against Italy we thought with his pace, ability and sharpness around Pirlo and De Rossi, it might help us nullify the fact they are both very, very good players.

“We won’t panic. In my time with the national team, I have to say that is the most positive performance in many ways that I have seen from us. It gives me great hope going forward, not just for the next two games (Uruguay and Costa Rica), but even further than that, because we have players who can all develop into very strong players.

"At the moment you can’t give Raheem Sterling, Daniel Sturridge, Danny Welbeck, Adam Lallana, Ross Barkley and Luke Shaw the experience of De Rossi and Pirlo. We have to give them games. They have got to earn that. But they didn’t let anyone down against Italy.

“There were some Sterling efforts out there, if you’ll excuse the pun. It was still us taking the game to them, being on the front foot towards the end of the game and we take some encouragement from that.

“We are going to need it against Uruguay, we are going to need it against Costa Rica, who looked a good team from what I saw [in their win against Uruguay]. I thought the best way to go was to unleash some of our pacy players and put Italy on the back foot. For long periods I thought we succeeded with that.

“Pace is going to be a weapon for us. Our pace, and our clever play, got us lots and lots of opportunities against Italy. We have to be more ruthless and score from those chances. Italy were more ruthless. They scored from one of their two corner-kicks and we didn’t really create a clear chance from our nine. I know we have the ability but we just couldn’t produce it.”

That cutting edge will sharpen with Rooney central. Hodgson felt the 4-2-3-1 system was successful against Italy.

“For long periods yes. I liked the shape of the team going forward but we have some work to do on the shape defending.” Indeed. England’s right flank was not a problem, Glen Johnson defending well enough. It was over on the left that Italy quickly saw a land of opportunity, targeting Leighton Baines, who seemed nervous on such a high-profile stage.

“You can’t blame purely the left-back,” Hodgson said. “We didn’t defend an area that well. We were playing very offensive, wide midfield players, Rooney, Welbeck, and Sterling playing out there. We are going to get caught in those areas from time to time.”

After Sterling failed to react swiftly enough to incipient danger on the left, Italy worked the ball in for Claudio Marchisio to score.

Sturridge equalised almost immediately following excellent work by Sterling and Rooney. But a collective lapse of concentration, a failure to execute elementary defensive duties, cost England dear and gave Italy victory.

“We got caught too high up the field, with Danny Welbeck,” said Hodgson. “They slipped the ball behind us, we didn’t block the cross and Balotelli pulls away and scores.”

Baines was beaten too easily, sending a shiver through those wondering how the more defensively smart Ashley Cole would have reacted. Balotelli escaped from Gary Cahill too simply. Joe Hart was too slow to respond.

If the back-four needs work, probably freshening up for Euro 2016, there were little other grounds for complaint. Hart, barring that one mistake, remains the best choice in goal. Jordan Henderson worked tirelessly in midfield, eclipsing Steven Gerrard, who failed to rise to the challenge of Pirlo. Henderson, Sterling, Welbeck and Sturridge did well, underlining why Hodgson was right to gamble on youth.

“They will be really looking forward to the Uruguay game,” said Hodgson. “The younger ones will have no thoughts of ‘do I belong on this stage?’ Because they have shown that against Italy, one of the best teams in the tournament.”

For England to stay in the tournament, to find a heat map that burns opponents, Rooney has to come in from the cold, buzzing again.