Roy Hodgson refuses to criticise England despite Spain defeat
Saturday 14 November 2015 16:05, UK
Roy Hodgson refused to be critical of England despite his side's 2-0 defeat to Spain in Alicante.
England, beaten for the first time in 15 matches, were undone by a spectacular volley from Mario Gaspar and Santi Cazorla's curling effort in the second-half.
And Hodgson hopes his side will not lose confidence after losing to the reigning European champions.
"We chose a tough one, especially tonight with the situation we found ourselves in but for 70 minutes we defended really well," Hodgson said.
"I thought the work rate and the discipline of the players was good and it's a little bit saddening that it was a counter-attack that cost us the game.
"Spain were very good. It was a really tough ask for our midfield, especially when we had to take [Adam] Lallana and [Fabian] Delph off which we had to do to protect them."
"They were really at the limit of what they could do," he added. "It was on that occasion that Spain profited and actually went on to win the game.
"I am not suggesting they didn't deserve to win the game, of course they did but hopefully we will learn from this evening.
"Hopefully, we won't lose confidence because there's still a lot more to come from our game. We weren't always allowed to show it this evening."
Spain's first goal came after England were caught out following a failed counter-attack and Hodgson thinks England's decision making must improve as they get closer to Euro 2016.
However, the England manager remained positive and did not want to label any criticism on his team.
"Our passing and decision making has to be better. We can't afford to give balls away in those areas," he added.
"Spain do not give the ball that often and even on the one or two occasions they do they are very good at recovering.
"I don't really want to criticise the players. We take the responsibility. We don't want excuses."
