England performance nothing like I had hoped for – Hodgson

Roy Hodgson admitted that England’s display in Tuesday’s 2-1 defeat to Netherlands was well short of the level he expected.

Jamie Vardy put the home side ahead at Wembley, but Vincent Janssen scored from the penalty spot before Luciano Narsingh scored a controversial winner after referee Antonio Miguel Mateu Lahoz chose not to award a foul for a push on Phil Jagielka.

Hodgson felt his side did not merit a defeat, but conceded the performance was a long way off the quality that saw them beat world champions Germany in Berlin on Saturday.

“We were hard done by. I don’t think we deserved to lose the game, especially the way the two decisions went against us, but it was nothing like the performance I was hoping for,” the England boss told ITV.

“We weren’t as intensive as we were on Saturday, not as inventive. We drifted to a defeat.

“I’m most disappointed for the crowd. I think 82,000 is a fantastic attendance for a game like this and it would have been nice to send them home with a victory.”

Danny Drinkwater impressed on his England debut and Hodgson felt a number of players had given themselves a strong chance of making the Euro 2016 squad following their efforts over the last two matches.

“We learned a lot, we knew we would,” he added. “It was important to give some people a chance to show what they can do.

“I’ve had a chance in these two games to assess a lot of players and I’m certain they’ll help me when I have to take that very difficult decision on who to take to France.”