Fabio Capello tonight leads England into the same stadium where they were humiliated 2-0 by Croatia almost two years ago, but the Italian last night made the extraordinary claim that his team would play better away from Wembley because they would not be subjected to the boos and whistles of their own disgruntled fans.

Given the supposedly intimidating atmosphere for visitors to Wembley – not to mention the fact that it cost the Football Association £757m to build – it was a remarkable claim but one delivered matter of factly by Capello. Six games into his reign, he faces his biggest test yet with a 2010 World Cup qualifier in the Maksimir Stadium against Croatia, who eliminated England from Euro 2008 at the qualifying stage and have never lost a competitive game at home since starting to play internationals in 1994.

With Capello's line-up tonight still known only to himself, it emerged last night that he was considering playing an attacking 4-3-2-1 formation, with Joe Cole and Theo Walcott playing as a pair just behind Wayne Rooney.

The midfield trio would be David Beckham, Gareth Barry and Frank Lampard. It would be a brave system to attempt in Croatia but an indication that Capello is prepared to take the game to his opposition. Asked whether his team would be affected by the occasion as Steve McClaren's side were at the Makismir Stadium in October 2006, Capello said that the hostile atmosphere would not affect his players as much as playing at home. "I hope that we will play with courage, not fear," he said. "We will play like a team. I'm sure, really, that England's players will play better than at home. I'm sure. Because, when we play at Wembley, sometimes after the first mistake the crowd whistles. Here it will be different."

When he was taken back to the subject, Capello confirmed that he would rather be in Croatia – even without the injured Steven Gerrard and Owen Hargreaves – than play Slaven Bilic's team at Wembley, where the Croats won 3-2 last November. "Yes, I think, at this moment, the players play better away from home," Capello said. "They play with more confidence. But I hope this is the last time [he has to say that]."

It was not much of a vote of confidence in the England fans, 2,500 of whom are expected to make the trip to Zagreb for tonight's game. They were dissatisfied with the 2-2 draw with the Czech Republic last month at Wembley, a game in which boos rang out at the end even after Joe Cole's late equaliser. That friendly was played in front of a crowd of 69,738 – less than capacity – and even fewer were at the first World Cup qualifier against Andorra in Barcelona for the 2-0 win on Saturday. Then there were boos from the England fans after a goalless first half.

The supporters' reaction has been an issue with the Football Association and the players, and the captain John Terry spoke yesterday about winning over England's support with a good start to this qualifying campaign. "We need to turn the fans around, get them loving England again," Terry said. "We need to put on a show and a performance and get the right result. A draw would be a great result.

"We need to set our standards early in the group. Win, lose or draw, the campaign is not going to be judged on this one game. But they've not been beaten [at home]. They're a very good side.

"We were favourites to win last time we came here but maybe that's turned round. We won't fear them. We'll respect them, like everyone else in the group. The memory of what happened last time will be more than enough [to spur them on]."

Results: Kazakhstan 3 Andorra 0; Croatia 3 Kazakhstan 0; Andorra 0 England 2; Ukraine 1 Belarus 0.

England's remaining fixtures: Today Croatia (a); 11 Oct Kazakhstan (h); 15 Oct Belarus (a); 1 April 2009 Ukraine (h); 6 June Kazakhstan (a); 10 June Andorra (h); 9 Sept Croatia (h); 10 Oct Ukraine (a); 14 Oct Belarus (h).