Euro 2012: England inching towards success insists Glen Johnson ahead of quarter-final clash with Italy Hodgson's approach to this tournament has been nuanced, incremental. It has been about tweaking, subtly changing, trying to gain those extra inches that do make the difference between a squad gripped with "fear" and paranoid about failing and one just allowed a little more freedom, a notch less pressure, to perform. Moments after Johnson spoke there was Hodgson's assistant, Ray Lewington, conducting training. He was showering praise, telling players to forget a mistake and, above all, shouting out, constantly, that they need to "relax on the ball." Sharp, unforgiving comparisons have been drawn with the Fabio Capello regime and although the Italian was undoubtedly more regimented, more critical it should neither be forgotten that he learnt lessons from the World Cup paralysis. This Krakow base for England, the facilities and travel arrangements were all set out by Capello and the then England general manager Franco Baldini. Johnson was part of the World Cup failure. He now has 39 caps, stretched over nine years, but is, with Kyle Walker injured, the undisputed first-choice right-back even if his performances throughout this campaign have been patchy. "I've always been confident that I can defend," Johnson maintained. A few in the press and media haven't always been but I'm not surprised at all. It is a sense, he feels, that courses throughout the squad. "We have always been confident," Johnson said. It's the press and the fans who weren't. The first objective was to get out of the group, which we have done. Now it's a one-off game and anything can happen. While you are still in it, you can win it. Nevertheless Johnson acknowledged that reduced expectation has also been beneficial. "It's a little bit more relaxed but that could just be because the pressure isn't there because no one thought we'd do anything at this tournament," he said. Hodgson, of course, has come late in the job - appointed a few short weeks before Euro 2012 started. "When we didn't have a manager and no one knew what the squad was going to be then it's obviously hard to imagine you are going to do well in a tournament but the players did remain the same," Johnson said. Roy didn't have long to set out his plans but he and his staff have done their best to get their points across. Johnson knew Hodgson from the manager's ill-fated 191 days in charge of Liverpool - an unhappy period that was also punctuated by tension between the pair when the player's performances were criticised and he responded by questioning the tactics. "Before we met up I spoke to him, we had a general chat, probably the same sort of chat that he had with everyone else so there wasn't a problem," Johnson said. I wasn't concerned at all. I was pleased for Roy that he got the job and what happened at Liverpool happened for whatever reason and no one can change that, it's done and dusted. It may come down to penalties on Sunday and although Johnson stressed that Hodgson had not selected his first five, if chosen he will be ready. "On this team we fight for that inch," as the Pacino character said in that film.