Roy Hodgson tells his England team: 'Don't doubt yourself'

Roy Hodgson will sit down with his England squad to assess Friday night’s defeat to Spain as they focus on their next steps on the road to Euro 2016.

After qualifying for the Finals with a perfect record in Group E – the only team to win all ten games – Hodgson’s men took their preparations to the next level as they travelled to Alicante on Friday.

England faced a nation who has won three out of the last four major tournaments they have played in – two European Championships and one World Cup – and were largely in control of possession, yet it was two pieces of magic that won the game for the home side late on.

An acrobatic volley from Villarreal defender Mario Gaspar and a well-taken side-foot strike from the edge of the box by Arsenal’s Santi Cazorla were enough for La Roja.

England were well-organised defensively and adapted to the pattern of play, catching Spain on the counter-attack to create their own chances, but failed to convert. And Hodgson believes it was a lack of composure in front of goal that ultimately cost them the chance to extend their 15-game unbeaten run.

However, his opposite number in the Spanish dug-out, Vincente del Bosque, praised the visitor's performance: "Every time they had the ball in midfield there was danger. They are a great team," said the Spaniard.

"I think as a football coach you do appreciate those comments because I think he saw maybe some of the potential we had,” said Hodgson in response.

“There were quite a few moments when we were breaking forward if I was the coach of his team I would have had my heart in my mouth.

“But we didn’t profit from it well enough – that’s the bottom line.

“This is an experience for them. At the moment there’s an awful lot of those players in those front and midfield positions who we will need to get back if we are going to be stronger. We are asking too much of others.

“I still believe we have players who are technically good. 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.”

Ross Barkley came close with an strike against Spain

With three other tough friendlies coming up for England between now and March – with France up next on Tuesday at Wembley - Hodgson says he will review the Spain game as they continue to build for next summer’s Euros.

He is keen the defeat is not seen as a set-back by his squad and they use the experience of playing away against the current European champions as a chance to improve.

And Hodgson knows his team are still developing with the aim of competing with the best Europe has to offer when they arrive in France in June.

“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 of these boys have been doing for a long time to be forgotten,” said the manager.

“When you haven’t lost for a long time and suffer defeat, if you are not careful, it can really dent your confidence.

Fabian Delph breaks forward in Alicante

“Suddenly criticism comes from all corners and people listen and they might start doubting themselves. My big thing is with the Barkleys, the Lallanas, the 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."

Hodgson continued: “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 at this moment in time, because we’ve lost this game against a better team, to suddenly start thinking we can’t do it and we can’t compete.

“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.

“Even though the best side won the game, I don’t think we were in any way embarrassed.”