Football: We Have To Get Better -England U21s Manager Aidy Boothroyd

England U21s Manager Aidy Boothroyd says his team must play better next time out following their 0-0 draw against Sweden in U21 Euros. £30m Everton signing Jordan Pickford saved a late penalty from Linus Wahlqvist to save a point for England, who face Slovakia next up on Monday evening.

Only the three group winners and best-performing second-place side qualify for the semi-final of the tournament, and Boothroyd knows England must improve to stand a chance of reaching the knockout stage.

He said “I think in an ideal world you play really well, win the game and you're off and running. What you don't want to do is lose. I thought it was typical of the opening game of a tournament, I thought both teams will say they could have played better. We certainly can. Overall it was a fair result for us. It's a shame, I thought we could have moved the ball quicker, into more pockets and perhaps attacked crosses better. A lot of players haven't played for 90 minutes for a while, so they're feeling it a bit. We're reasonably happy, not over-excited. We've made a solid start, and we look forward to the next one now. But we know we can play better, and we expect to play better next time. But today the main thing is we got used to the atmosphere, got used to the tournament, and we got ourselves a point.”