Pearce urges England to 'learn lessons'

After watching his side slump to a 2-0 defeat by France at the home of former club Nottingham Forest FC on Tuesday, England manager Stuart Pearce claimed the "bloody nose" would boost his charges' chances of success at the UEFA European Under-21 Championship in June.

'Massive tournament'
"We've got a massive tournament this summer and things had been going well for us," said Pearce, whose team conceded first-half goals to gifted French duo Gabriel Obertan and Moussa Sissoko. "We were outplayed by a very good French side; we need to learn the lessons and the beating will do us good. This will serve us brilliantly, some of my best reactions in football came after a bloody nose.

'Valuable lesson'
"We responded better in the second half. [Jack] Rodwell got his first cap, [Fraizer] Campbell and [Daniel] Welbeck came on, while [Michael] Mancienne went into double figures at this level – there's no player out there who hasn't learned something," continued Pearce, before reinforcing his belief that England have the talent to thrive in Sweden. "They're a great bunch of boys. We've had a great nine days together and perhaps we've learned the most valuable lesson on the last day. We've been beaten but the players are good enough to do a job.

Lampard comment
"When I was coming through I worked for five years [as an electrician while playing non-league football] and it certainly served me well, but I've not got the experience of what it's like to come through at a club," said the England supremo, touching upon Frank Lampard's comments that today's youngsters would benefit from rituals such as cleaning senior players' boots. "There are some great pros out there, with some it goes to their heads and with some it doesn't. The ones who are swayed won't have a long career and won't make the most of their potential."

Influential figures
Denied the services of established Premier League performers including Theo Walcott, Micah Richards, Aaron Lennon and Gabriel Agbonlahor through a combination of injury and full international call-ups, Pearce concluded by underlining the importance of taking a strong squad to the U21 finals. "It's not just England who promote players early [to the seniors], part of my job is to get them from here to there. Eight nations are going to the finals and they all need their best players – it's not just England. No matter what nation you are, without your best players you won't win it."