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| Roy Hodgson has told his players they must not let the Spain defeat derail their Euro 2016 ambitions |
England boss Roy Hodgson has told his players that the pain in Spain mustn’t be allowed to derail their European Championship ambitions.
A blemish free run to next summer’s finals – 10 wins out of 10 – meant nothing in Alicante on Friday night as the Three Lions looked way short of mounting a realistic challenge in France.
Spain, without ever hitting the heights, won 2-0. True they were aided by a wonder goal from Villarreal full back Mario Gaspar and Santi Cazorla’s coup de grace came right at the end but England coughed and spluttered their way through the friendly against the European champions.
A first defeat in 17 months says Hodgson shouldn’t damage the momentum he believes an error free qualification campaign has instilled into the Three Lions.
“I think the most important thing we can do now is work hard to make certain we have a realistic appraisal of the game and don’t allow some of the things that some these boys have been doing for a long time to be forgotten.”he said.
“When you haven’t lost for a long time and have a defeat, if you are not careful it can really dent your confidence.
“Suddenly criticism comes from all corners and people listen and they might start doubting themselves. My big thing is with the Ross Barkleys and Adam Lallanas and Raheem Sterlings is ‘don’t doubt yourself, keep doing it. We will get stronger.’
“We won’t be playing Spain away every day and I saw enough from the level of concentration and discipline to know we are going to give people a game. Even though the best side won the game, I don’t think we were in any way embarrassed.
“Perhaps we could have suggested that might have turned out that way because of the enormous amount of players who were not here to help us.”
Indeed Hodgson could have fielded a decent crocks XI with the likes of Luke Shaw, Leighton Baines, Phil Jagielka, James Milner, Theo Walcott, Jack Wilshere, Jordan Henderson, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Daniel Sturridge and Danny Welbeck all absent.
But it’s what happens on the night and England were given plenty of food for thought as Spain ran out winners.
Hodgson added: “They have actually been there and done it. Quite a lot of players out there against us know exactly what it’s like to win a tournament.
“We actually have quite a few players who not only don’t know what it’s like to win a tournament, they haven’t even played that many games in the Premier League.
“They are much more learning the game. I think we need to take that into account. But the important thing is that we keep our eye on the ball. We have to ask ourselves: ‘What’s it going to be like next June in France? Who will we be playing? What will we have? What will we be doing?’ I don’t think it will be right for us now because we’ve lost this game against a better team to suddenly start thinking we can’t do it and we can’t compete.
“I still believe we have players who are technically quite good players. I still believe we have got players who will get better. To some extent the lack of composure we showed on one or two occasions, compared to their incredible composure, might be due to the fact that quite a few of them are a little bit new.
“And Spain don’t press the ball badly either. They don’t give you a lot of time on the ball. Funnily there were moments in the game when we did get the ball down and pass it that we made them look a little bit more normal.”
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| Michael Carrick had to be stretchered off the pitch after suffering an injury in Alicante |
Hits and misses in Spain:
Hits: Ross Barkley. He is the one class midfielder who has the tools to open up defences, especially when the game gets stretched. Must be pencilled in for every friendly to gain much needed experience at international level.
Chris Smalling. Growing at club and international level. Nullified Chelsea striker Diego Costa, so much so that the nationalised Spaniard was taken off.
Ryan Bertrand. Industrious and created openings with his intelligent runs down the left wing.
Harry Kane. Not a wonderful night but showed enough craft and know how to suggest that given more opportunities he will take them.
Misses: Adam Lallana. For such a skilled player it’s frustrating to see him on the periphery of the game. Not helped by being played out wide on the right.
Michael Carrick. Another player with so much to offer but again failed to make a lasting imprint on the game.
Fabian Delph. Hard worker and showed plenty of spirit but needs to step up to another level.
Raheem Sterling. Still a work in progress. Has the potential to become a real international player but isn’t there yet.
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