Milner frustrated with uninspiring England

James Milner believes England should be disappointed with their use of possession in the 2-1 friendly defeat to Netherlands on Tuesday.

Jamie Vardy put Roy Hodgson’s side ahead at Wembley, but Danny Blind’s side recorded a controversial comeback to claim the victory.

Vincent Janssen swept home from the penalty spot after Danny Rose was adjudged to have blocked Luciano Narsingh’s cross with his hand and the PSV winger struck the crucial second after Janssen was allowed to play on after bundling Phil Jagielka to the ground.

Milner felt the decisions were harsh, but the Liverpool man acknowledged England paid the price for failing to replicate the standards they hit in Saturday’s 3-2 win away to Germany.

“It’s frustrating,” he told ITV. “We didn’t hit the heights we did at the weekend which is disappointing, but two decisions for the goals could have gone either way.

“But we don’t want to moan about the referee, we didn’t play well enough tonight, we didn’t do enough with the ball.”

Vardy celebrated a second international goal in two matches, but the Leicester City striker was left irritated with the defeat.

“It’s an unbelievable feeling [scoring at Wembley], but the result’s disappointing,” he said. “I’ve got to carry on playing how I have been and we’ll see what happens.”

England captain Wayne Rooney, who missed the game due to a knee injury, believes there were positives to draw from the performance – though he concedes there are issues to fix between now and Euro 2016.

“I’m disappointed with the result. The manager won’t be happy with a lot of things. There are positives to take from the game, but there are things to work on,” he said.

Rooney also defended the performance of John Stones after he was caught in possession in the build-up to Narsingh’s winner.

“It’s unfortunate for him to slip,” he said. “As a team, we’re trying to encourage our players to do more with the ball. I’m sure he’ll learn a lot from that.”