Pearce: Spain posed little threat

Stuart Pearce rubbed salt into "arrogant" Spain's wounds by claiming England would have thrashed them on Sunday had they had enjoyed as much possession in their European Under-21 Championship opener.

Pearce's Young Lions were chasing shadows almost from start to finish in the Group B clash in Herning but their opponents failed to turn their dominance into goals as Danny Welbeck salvaged a 1-1 draw.

"If we had kept the ball away from the Spanish team for that period of time over 90 minutes, we'd have maybe won the game 4-0," Pearce said. "We stuck at it, we kept going, and sometimes you get rewards. I don't think our goal was threatened a great deal over the 90 minutes."

He added: "The goalkeeper's hardly had too much to deal with.

"I was sat on the touchline and even though we didn't have possession of the ball, I didn't feel as though the opposition were going to score a goal. It's not often you can say that."

Nevertheless, Pearce admitted England could not risk a repeat performance in their next two games against Ukraine on Wednesday and group leaders Czech Republic next Sunday.

"I think we have to learn a real lesson from this going forward," he said.

"There's more ability in our squad than we probably showed.

"In our possession of the ball, we have to show a touch more maybe of the Spanish arrogance that we saw. The heart of the team is fantastic.

"We'll be a better side and play better as the games go on. And we'll be better on Wednesday than we were this evening."