‘This won’t affect me — I’ll be the same man in the morning’

From Back Page staff and players have been focused and their attitude has been excellent. I couldn’t have asked for more. ‘This won’t affect my mentality in any way. I’ll be the same man tomorrow as I was this morning. ‘When I put myself forward I said that I had the experience to take the team to the finals and that it wouldn’t be daunting to me at all. ‘After that, I don’t have the experience for this job. I would only be buying the FA some time if they’ve not got someone in time. The full-time manager of England is certainly not me.’ Pearce made Scott Parker captain and applauded his contribution. ‘He’s well respected in the group,’ said the manager. ‘He’s an extremely unselfish player. All the players just needed a bit more belief that they could go and hurt opponents of this ability. A bit of know-how or nous would have seen the game out. ‘It’s disappointing to lose but the exercise was to learn from it. We came up against an outstanding side and the exercise will stand our young players in good stead.’ Parker said: ‘It was pretty emotional. It was an immensely proud moment for me and something I’ll always cherish. It’s what every boy dreams.’ There were injury concerns for club managers. Steven Gerrard had a tight hamstring and was replaced in the first half — a ‘precaution’, according to Pearce. Daniel Sturridge limped off with a toe injury and Chris Smalling was carried off and taken to hospital after a clash of heads with Klaas-jan Huntelaar as the Holland striker put his team 2-0 up. Huntelaar also went to hospital.