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England 0 Germany 1: Per Mertesacker leaves Roy Hodgson frustrated by back-to-back defeats a Wembley

Three Lions booed off after 1-0 defeat to Germany at Wembley

Jack Pitt-Brooke
Wednesday 20 November 2013 02:00 GMT
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England manager Roy Hodgson looks on from the dugout
England manager Roy Hodgson looks on from the dugout (AP)

Roy Hodgson revealed his disappointment and frustration tonight as England slipped to a second consecutive home defeat.

Beaten 1-0 by Germany at Wembley, just four days after losing 2-0 there to Chile, Hodgson admitted he felt a sense of responsibility to the two large Wembley crowds of this week who have seen England lose.

“The major disappointment is two-fold,” Hodgson said after the game. “We didn't show the quality I expected, and having 150,000 people through to watch us and send them home disappointed.”

England were booed off at the end, having failed to create many chances against a much-changed German side. Hodgson acknowledged that his team would need to play better in future. Their next game at Wembley is against Denmark in March 2014.

“It's always disappointing to get boos, but there aren't many games where the home side don't get the result and then don't boo. We don't want that. We want the applause we had after the Montenegro and Poland games. But to get the applause, that level of acclaim, we are going to have to play better and win matches. We didn't play well enough tonight, didn't win, and sent 85,000 people home disappointed.”

Hodgson did, however, take some positives out of a match that never became one-sided, and in which England continued to press for an equaliser. “It's not nice to lose, especially a second game at home, so one can't be in any way satisfied. I'm not disappointed with the effort, work rate and application. I don't think there were stages where we were being out-played and, for long periods, it was an even game. But the Germans were better in the quality of their passing and finishing. We let ourselves down in the final third tonight. We can do better. We know that.”

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