Duo react to draw
Sunday, 12 June, 2011
Danny Welbeck and Chris Smalling speak after draw with Spain.
By Chris Hatherall
England hero Danny Welbeck says he was delighted to score an equaliser in a 1-1 draw against Spain and expects Stuart Pearce’s Young Lions to go from strength to strength in the UEFA European Under 21 Championships now.
Welbeck earned England a point in their opening game in Denmark and said: “I think we have set a platform now and we have to build on it
“We have a great team spirit and I think we are going to go back to the hotel, get some rest and recovery tomorrow and then another training session before the next game. We are just ready to go really.”
Spain dominated much of the opening half but Welbeck was happy at the way England fought back and could even have won the game.
He added: “In the first half they took control of the game and we sat back a bit too much but in the second-half I think we got more into the game, got a bit more possession and created a few good chances. Maybe we could have stuck a couple more away, but in the end we were delighted to get a goal.
Defender Chris Smalling added: “In the first half they had a lot of the ball but the Manager emphasised at half time that we had the better chances and even though they had a lot of the ball they never created too much so we had to keep up that belief.
“In the second half, I think we started to assert ourselves and we gave a bit more belief but I think it was a well deserved point and I think we had the better chances.
“We were shown a lot of videos in terms of possession and their keep-ball but the Manager just said that we need to go after them and put them under pressure and you could see that they started to give the ball away and we really started to assert ourselves. In the end, it got better as the game went on but unluckily we didn’t start like that
“I think the whole back four worked really well and that the two midfielders and the whole team, because it all starts from Danny Welbeck and Daniel Sturridge up top. When we really started to assert ourselves we really gave ourselves a chance and you could see we played a lot of the second half in their half.”