While Jack Wilshere retains a chance of starting England’s World Cup opener against Italy on 14 June, including Jordan Henderson alongside his Liverpool team-mate Steven Gerrard has always appeared a more logical selection. Though Henderson arrived at Liverpool three years ago with the task of becoming “the next Steven Gerrard”, as the Liverpool captain himself declared, in no way are the duo too similar. In fact, they are now very different players – Gerrard occupies a deep-lying role and sprays passes into attack while Henderson is akin to the old-school Gerrard, offering energy, tenacity and well-timed runs. They complement each other neatly.

While Henderson generally played in advance of Gerrard in the Liverpool midfield throughout their title challenge, for this unremarkable 3-0 victory they were alongside one another in a 4-2-3-1. Henderson appeared more restricted with his movements and England were predictably much flatter than Liverpool in midfield. The passing was not quick enough and, while there was fluidity between the front four, Henderson rarely got ahead of England’s attackers, as he often does effectively at club level.

Henderson attempted a few straight balls into the inside-right channel for Daniel Sturridge and Adam Lallana but these were generally overhit. Still, Roy Hodgson would have been pleased to see rare bursts of ambition on the ball: he emphasises the importance of penetration over possession. While England’s lack of ball retention quality has often been criticised after major defeats, this is the youngest, fastest and most direct England squad in years, and it would be a shame if such as Sturridge, Danny Welbeck and Raheem Sterling were unable to use their pace because the midfield did not attempt forward balls.

There were also problems without possession. England were opened up by an excellent Luis Ramirez through-ball for the right-winger Jean Deza midway through the first half, which prompted Joe Hart to sweep. Peru later had a couple of long-range attempts under little pressure. The zone between England’s defence and midfield has so frequently been a problem at past international tournaments, partly because of the continual attempts to deploy Gerrard and Frank Lampard as a midfield pair, a combination that, worryingly, could yet be witnessed in Brazil.

Gerrard is clearly a more disciplined, reserved midfielder these days but he is not flawless defensively. England at least possessed options such as Michael Carrick and Owen Hargreaves at past international tournaments, with both impressing at the 2006 World Cup. In the current 23-man squad, however, there are no naturally calm, intelligent holding players or traditional ball-winners. Gerrard sometimes came unstuck as Liverpool’s deepest midfielder in the second half of the campaign, outclassed by intelligent opposition No10s such as Southampton’s Lallana and Manchester City’s David Silva – despite Liverpool winning those matches – and the same could happen in Brazil. Henderson provides the forward thrust but not the defensive diligence.

After an experiment with 4-3-3 in the previous friendly, a 1-0 win over Denmark in March, it is now clear that Hodgson wants to play a 4-2-3-1 instead. The formation might be decided but the system has not yet clicked.