Roy Hodgson accepts that England's latest penalty failure will only increase the pressure next time they are involved in a shoot-out.
England boss accepts latest failure will weigh on future teams
Roy Hodgson accepts that England's latest penalty failure will only increase the pressure next time they are involved in a shoot-out.
The Three Lions suffered their seventh spot-kick defeat in eight attempts as they exited Euro 2012 at the quarter-final stage following a 4-2 defeat by Italy after a goalless draw over 120 tense minutes.
Ashley Young and Ashley Cole became the latest names to be added to the list of England players who have failed from 12 yards in a major international tournament.
But Hodgson insists that there was nothing he would have done differently to prepare his players for the ultimate pressure situation in international football.
Incredible confidence
When asked in a press conference shown on
Sky Sports News if the pressure would be increased the next time England are involved in a shoot-out, he replied. "Absolutely. Every failure you have exacerbates the situation for the future.
"Nothing that you can do will ever prepare you for the moment. What can possibly prepare you for those type of things?
"We practiced, we talked about it, we knew where their penalty takers were going to take their shots. We did all the things that one could possibly do from a professional point of view.
"But it still doesn't change the fact that Pirlo has the incredible confidence at that level of football to chip the ball over the goalkeeper, while our players were desperately trying to do the penalties they practiced and unfortunately it didn't come off.
"Penalty shoot-outs are a game within themselves. Maybe we have got to get better at both games. Maybe we have got to get better at beating teams over 90 minutes, and if we can't do that get better at the game of penalty shoot-outs."
League
Much has been made of the weakness of the international game in England in comparison to the strength of the Premier League, with Chelsea the current champions of Europe.
But despite the quality on show at Manchester United, Manchester City, Arsenal and many other sides, Hodgson knows it is impossible to compare club and country because of the foreign talent on show in the top-flight.
"Leagues are not nations. Our league contains many teams who don't contain one English player. You can't compare leagues with national football," he said.
"I will go to watch matches next year when there might be only two Englishmen in the team, so don't confuse leagues with national football.
"But I still think we have more than enough good English players in the league to put together a good England team and we will just have to keep working to bridge any gap which might exist at the moment."
