John Peacock says "lessons have been learned" at the Algarve Tournament as he begins preparations for the European Championship qualifiers in March.
His England U17s suffered a 2-0 defeat against Germany on Tuesday, and the head coach believes it was "self-inflicted" again following the 7-0 defeat to Holland and 1-1 draw with Portugal earlier in the competition.
"Yes, absolutely, it’s been a feature of our play this week unfortunately," he told TheFA.com following the game.
Germany U17s 2-0 England U17s
Algarve Tournament
12noon, Tuesday 17 February 2015
Algarve Stadium, Portugal
"Individual mistakes and making poor decision-making. Whichever team you play against, whether it be the top teams like we have out here or teams of a lesser ability, you just can’t give goals away. That’s what we have done and it has cost us dearly."
His side conceded two first-half goals, but produced a much stronger display after the interval that with some better finishing, could have seen them claim at least a draw.
"The only saving grace is that it’s a learning curve and a friendly tournament," added Peacock.
"It’s better to get the mistakes out the way here, and hopefully now we can push on to the Elites next month with a more positive reaction.
"I did get a good reaction [in the] second half," Peacock continued.
"We had one for the Portuguese game, and we had another one today.
"The first half was difficult, but we came back with a lot more positive approach and we should have scored a couple of goals and we probably deserved something out of the game.
"So it’s lessons learned and time to move forward."
The week-long trip to Portugal allowed the two-time European Championship winning coach to take one last look at his squad ahead of the qualfiers in March – and he says it has been vital in that respect despite the results.
"I’ve learnt more about the players – which was a key feature of the week," he explained.
"I had to find out more about them individually. We’ve had a few new caps this week and people that have come back into it that haven’t been involved for a few months.
"At the end of the day it has cleared my thinking a little more of what the requirements are and what the balance of the squad needs to be for March.
"We’ve got a lot of work to do, and we will need to be at our best to qualify from the group."
