Football
Dan Kilpatrick, Tottenham Correspondent 8y

Australia out to exploit England's defence - Massimo Luongo

Australia star Massimo Luongo says the Socceroos can "expose" England's defence in Friday's friendly and believes Eric Dier will be a key man for the hosts.

England face Australia at the Stadium of Light in their second pre-Euro 2016 warmup match, following Sunday's 2-1 win over Turkey -- a display that showcased England's attacking talent and defensive frailties.

Roy Hodgson is spoilt for choice up front and the Three Lions boss could hand teenage Manchester United forward Marcus Rashford an international debut against the Socceroos.

However, England are short of options at centre-half and Dier is the only specialist defensive midfielder in Hodgson's 26-man group.

Queens Park Rangers midfielder Luongo says the Tottenham man adds steel to England but believes Australia are well-equipped to hurt their hosts.

"I don't know what formation they'll play but having Dier holding there, sitting there, it might be a little tough to break down. But also they do expose themselves because of the attacking ability they have. Which we can expose at times," Luongo told Socceroos.com.

"That's our strengths. Boys getting in the pockets and turning them getting them running back to their own goal. But we'll have a lot of hard work without the ball but we can hurt a lot of teams.

"We haven't come up against a side this highly ranked as this for a long time, so it's a good test to see how far we've come. And we need to progress and work on things we worked on today."

Sydney-born Luongo joined Tottenham's academy in 2011 and played alongside England quartet Harry Kane, Kyle Walker, Danny Rose and Andros Townsend before signing for the Hoops via a stint at Swindon Town.

The 23-year-old is looking forward to catching up with his former teammates.

"It's exciting for me. I kind of call London my home now. So it'll be nice for people I know. It'll be nice to touch base a little before the game or after the game," he added.

"They've all done well and obviously the Tottenham team have done. It'll be a challenge. They'll all be on the same wavelength and it'll be a good challenge for us."

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