‘Disjointed’ England have much to improve on, says Jordan Henderson

England took an early lead but failed to capitalise on this as Spain fought back to outclass and beat their hosts

Jordan Henderson believes England put in a "disjointed performance" in their Nations League defeat by Spain and insists the side have much to improve on.

England took an early lead when Marcus Rashford converted Luke Shaw’s low pass, only for Spain to instantly hit back through Saul Niguez and complete a first half turnaround with Rodrigo taking advantage of sloppy defending from a set-piece.

Despite England’s limitations being exposed in their World Cup semi-final defeat against Croatia, manager Gareth Southgate persisted with a one-man central midfield, leaving Henderson isolated against Spain’s talented trio in the middle of the park.

“It was tough, especially in the first half,” said Henderson. “We tried to press a little bit higher up the pitch and it became a little disjointed at times.

“We managed to score a good goal but then conceded straight after, which we were disappointed with, especially the set play. But overall I thought in the second half we were better.

“There is a lot to improve on but also a lot of positives to take.”

Once Spain beat England’s high press there was plenty of space to work the ball as Henderson struggled to cope with Thiago Alcantara, Isco and Saul’s manipulative style of passing football.

“It is difficult in the midfield because there are lots of bodies in there. When you are playing in a three you are covering a lot of ground. Especially in the first half when we weren’t compact enough,” said Henderson, who added he doesn’t think a tactical rethink is necessary. “In the second half I thought we coped with that a little better. Like I say, as the game went on we created more chances.”

England are hoping to avoid a fourth consecutive defeat against Switzerland this week, an odd statistic for a side that were playing in a World Cup semi-final two months ago. But Henderson has warned supporters not to get downhearted and remember the quality of opposition they have been matching for large periods of games.

“Spain are a fantastic team so they are going to have periods in the game where they put us under pressure. But for the majority of the game, especially in the second half which was better, we created some good chances that we could score from.

Isco was part of Spain's rampant midfield (AFP/Getty Images)

“There are still positives to take out of it but also a lot of things to learn from tonight as well because Spain are a fantastic team."

“We still feel confident, we still feel like we are learning, we have a lot of young players in the team,” he added. “You want to play against the best teams and the best players to learn from the experiences. Spain are definitely that. We will look back on the game at what we can do better and what we did well, then move on to the Switzerland game which is another good test.”

One positive that England can take away is the performance of Rashford, 20, and Shaw, 23. In times where individual inspiration was running a little low, the Manchester United duo were able to provide that little bit extra for the side and combined well to score the opening goal at Wembley.

Shaw’s match ended in concerning circumstances when he was stretchered off with an oxygen mask and a neck brace, but the wing-back, who recently revealed he almost lost his leg after breaking it in 2016, said he is “doing fine.”

Spain and Manchester United’s number one, David De Gea, was called into action to deny Rashord from close range and tipped his late header past the post to prevent what looked to be a certain second goal.

Henderson is backing him to continue delivering for England and says that he must take his chances following Jamie Vardy’s retirement from international football.

“We all know how talented Marcus is,” said the Liverpool captain. “It was a great finish. He had another one or two chances that maybe he would have liked to have scored but I thought he looked sharp. He was lively and he’s always a threat on the counter-attack.

“He’s a fantastic young player so he just needs to keep learning, keep improving and he’s a big part of our team.”