Stuart Pearce described England Under-21s’ 4-0 win in Denmark as a “stepping stone” in the right direction ahead of the European Championships.<\/p>\n
Pearce’s youngsters rediscovered their ruthless streak ahead of this summer’s finals having failed to win – or score in – their previous three matches.<\/p>\n
However, although they clinically took advantage of defensive mistakes made by the Danes, England produced a string of their own which went unpunished in Viborg, where they will return in June for their final Group B match against the Czech Republic.<\/p>\n
Pearce said: “I was pleased with the result and the clean sheet, but I was disappointed with the first-half performance as we didn’t play particularly well and we were too open in midfield and allowed the opposition too many chances.<\/p>\n
“In the second half, I thought we improved.<\/p>\n
“In international football, to win a game is hard work, make no mistake. To win 4-0 away from home, I am very pleased with.<\/p>\n
“For me, it’s a stepping stone towards the summer and hopefully one or two players showed me they’re improving and getting better.<\/p>\n
“It’s me collating the squad basically.”<\/p>\n
Pearce’s side face Iceland in Preston on Monday night in their penultimate friendly before they return to Denmark for June’s first finals match against Spain.<\/p>\n
“I’ve only got two games left now before we step out against Spain,” Pearce added.<\/p>\n
“We have to keep improving, we have to be full at it every game.<\/p>\n
“I don’t think we were today, but it was good enough to win the game.”<\/p>\n
England’s strikers looked particularly sharp, with Danny Welbeck, Scott Sinclair and Daniel Sturridge all finding the net before Jordan Henderson slotted in the visitors’ fourth goal.<\/p>\n
Bolton’s on-loan Chelsea forward Sturridge stole the show, as Pearce acknowledged.<\/p>\n
He said: “There was some decent performances in there, Danny Welbeck coming back from injury and Sturridge was outstanding, as was the goalkeeper (Alex McCarthy) in his first start.”<\/p>\n
The major blow to England, and possibly Manchester City, was the loss of captain Micah Richards to a hamstring injury after less than three minutes.<\/p>\n
“The only downside maybe was the fact we lost Micah early on in the game but, apart from that, a lot of players have done a lot of good for themselves in regard to the squad,” Pearce said.<\/p>\n
“He’s got a hamstring problem and he’s diagnosed himself as being out for four weeks – that’s Dr Richards for you.<\/p>\n
“That could be four days though, as that’s him diagnosing himself!<\/p>\n
“Let’s hope for Manchester City’s sake and the preparation in the summer that it’s not too long.”<\/p>\n
A four-week absence would rule Richards out of the FA Cup semi-final with rivals Manchester United.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
![](\"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/201ed65bget.media_717-150x90.gif\")
<\/p>\n
The rest is here:
\nEngland Under-21 Manager Stuart Pearce Eyes More Improvement<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Stuart Pearce described England Under-21s’ 4-0 win in Denmark as a “stepping stone” in the right direction ahead of the European Championships. Pearce’s youngsters rediscovered their ruthless streak ahead of this summer’s finals having failed to win – or score in – their previous three matches. However, although they clinically took advantage of defensive mistakes made by the Danes, England produced a string of their own which went unpunished in Viborg, where they will return in June for their final Group B match against the Czech Republic. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-336980","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-business"},"yoast_head":"\n
England Under-21 Manager Stuart Pearce Eyes More Improvement - Ghanamma.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/03\/25\/england-under-21-manager-stuart-pearce-eyes-more-improvement\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"England Under-21 Manager Stuart Pearce Eyes More Improvement - Ghanamma.com\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"Stuart Pearce described England Under-21s' 4-0 win in Denmark as a "stepping stone" in the right direction ahead of the European Championships. Pearce's youngsters rediscovered their ruthless streak ahead of this summer's finals having failed to win - or score in - their previous three matches. However, although they clinically took advantage of defensive mistakes made by the Danes, England produced a string of their own which went unpunished in Viborg, where they will return in June for their final Group B match against the Czech Republic.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/201ed65bget.media_717-150x90.gif\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@ghanamma\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ghanamma\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/03\/25\/england-under-21-manager-stuart-pearce-eyes-more-improvement\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/03\/25\/england-under-21-manager-stuart-pearce-eyes-more-improvement\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"\",\"@id\":\"\"},\"headline\":\"England Under-21 Manager Stuart Pearce Eyes More Improvement\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-03-25T07:54:21+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/03\/25\/england-under-21-manager-stuart-pearce-eyes-more-improvement\/\"},\"wordCount\":490,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/03\/25\/england-under-21-manager-stuart-pearce-eyes-more-improvement\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/201ed65bget.media_717-150x90.gif\",\"articleSection\":[\"Business\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/03\/25\/england-under-21-manager-stuart-pearce-eyes-more-improvement\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/03\/25\/england-under-21-manager-stuart-pearce-eyes-more-improvement\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/03\/25\/england-under-21-manager-stuart-pearce-eyes-more-improvement\/\",\"name\":\"England Under-21 Manager Stuart Pearce Eyes More Improvement - Ghanamma.com\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/03\/25\/england-under-21-manager-stuart-pearce-eyes-more-improvement\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/03\/25\/england-under-21-manager-stuart-pearce-eyes-more-improvement\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/201ed65bget.media_717-150x90.gif\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-03-25T07:54:21+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/03\/25\/england-under-21-manager-stuart-pearce-eyes-more-improvement\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/03\/25\/england-under-21-manager-stuart-pearce-eyes-more-improvement\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/201ed65bget.media_717-150x90.gif\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/201ed65bget.media_717-150x90.gif\"},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/\",\"name\":\"Ghanamma.com\",\"description\":\"News In Ghana - Latest Ghana News Headlines\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"England Under-21 Manager Stuart Pearce Eyes More Improvement - Ghanamma.com","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/03\/25\/england-under-21-manager-stuart-pearce-eyes-more-improvement\/","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_title":"England Under-21 Manager Stuart Pearce Eyes More Improvement - Ghanamma.com","twitter_description":"Stuart Pearce described England Under-21s' 4-0 win in Denmark as a \"stepping stone\" in the right direction ahead of the European Championships. Pearce's youngsters rediscovered their ruthless streak ahead of this summer's finals having failed to win - or score in - their previous three matches. However, although they clinically took advantage of defensive mistakes made by the Danes, England produced a string of their own which went unpunished in Viborg, where they will return in June for their final Group B match against the Czech Republic.","twitter_image":"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/201ed65bget.media_717-150x90.gif","twitter_creator":"@ghanamma","twitter_site":"@ghanamma","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/03\/25\/england-under-21-manager-stuart-pearce-eyes-more-improvement\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/03\/25\/england-under-21-manager-stuart-pearce-eyes-more-improvement\/"},"author":{"name":"","@id":""},"headline":"England Under-21 Manager Stuart Pearce Eyes More Improvement","datePublished":"2011-03-25T07:54:21+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/03\/25\/england-under-21-manager-stuart-pearce-eyes-more-improvement\/"},"wordCount":490,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/03\/25\/england-under-21-manager-stuart-pearce-eyes-more-improvement\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/201ed65bget.media_717-150x90.gif","articleSection":["Business"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/03\/25\/england-under-21-manager-stuart-pearce-eyes-more-improvement\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/03\/25\/england-under-21-manager-stuart-pearce-eyes-more-improvement\/","url":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/03\/25\/england-under-21-manager-stuart-pearce-eyes-more-improvement\/","name":"England Under-21 Manager Stuart Pearce Eyes More Improvement - Ghanamma.com","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/03\/25\/england-under-21-manager-stuart-pearce-eyes-more-improvement\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/03\/25\/england-under-21-manager-stuart-pearce-eyes-more-improvement\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/201ed65bget.media_717-150x90.gif","datePublished":"2011-03-25T07:54:21+00:00","author":{"@id":""},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/03\/25\/england-under-21-manager-stuart-pearce-eyes-more-improvement\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/03\/25\/england-under-21-manager-stuart-pearce-eyes-more-improvement\/#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/201ed65bget.media_717-150x90.gif","contentUrl":"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/201ed65bget.media_717-150x90.gif"},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/","name":"Ghanamma.com","description":"News In Ghana - Latest Ghana News Headlines","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/336980","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=336980"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/336980\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=336980"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=336980"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=336980"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}