Howard: Clumsy lads must learn

13 April 2012
England U21 0 Spain U21 4

England Under-21 coach Howard Wilkinson insisted the record 4-0 mauling by Spain last night was "a worthwhile exercise" - if the players learn from the experience.

Wilkinson was surprisingly positive despite seeing his side given a footballing lesson by the Spaniards in the opening 45 minutes of the friendly at Birmingham City's St Andrews ground.

They were often chasing shadows in a warm-up game for the European Championship qualifiers with Finland at Barnsley on March 23 and in Albania four days later.

But Wilkinson, who had lost several regular players to Sven-Goran Eriksson's first senior squad, is confident the experience can be beneficial for the future.

Wilkinson said: "It's better the game finished up like it did rather than us hauling back the deficit and everyone saying 'what a terrific fightback' and being drowned in the euphoria of the result.

"If that was the case they might have forgot all the other bits. It was a bad performance and the defenders found the tide coming in for half of the game.

"In that period you were scratching your head and thinking of some players: 'I've not recognised them.'

"But I said to them at full-time there were lots of pluses to take out of the game if we are prepared to learn from our mistakes.

"We were up against a very good side whose movement and passing was excellent, but they were also organised, determined and energetic in the way they went about getting the ball back.

"It's a case of comparing that with our passing and movement and we were almost clumsy at times in the first half.

"But the good thing is it was a friendly and, if they are prepared to take the lessons on board, then it will have been a worthwhile exercise. The result was not foremost in my mind."

Wilkinson added: "At this level, winning is important but not the chief thing and we have a lot of talented players.

"We have a lot of people in the squad who hadn't played before and now they've got games under their belt.

"It's difficult to get cohesion, sometimes impossible. I can't pick players if they are not available. From purely selfish interests I'd love to have the same 18 players every time we come together but it's just not possible. But everyone will get another chance. Nobody has been sentenced to prison! Everybody gets another chance."

Two goals in each half killed off England, who enjoyed their best spell when lively striker Shola Ameobi came on for the second half.

The Newcastle United forward did well to carve out good chances for Mark Wilson and Jonathan Greening, but both failed to convert.

Chelsea's John Terry was at fault for Spain's second goal when he was involved in a dreadful mix-up with goalkeeper Paul Robinson in the 21st minute.

There seemed little danger when Carlos Marchene sent in a hopeful long ball towards the England goal.

But Leeds United goalkeeper Robinson and Terry collided with each other on the edge of the area to leave Pablo Gonzalez with a simple task to score his second of the night.

The defeat equalled England's worst ever result at Under-21 level, a 4-0 European Championship defeat by Romania in Ploesti 21 years ago.

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