Angry Hrubesch 'expected more'

Germany's Horst Hrubesch described himself as "angry" despite watching his side reach the UEFA European Under-21 Championship semi-finals thanks to their draw with England in Halmstad. A failure to stick to their game plan after Gonzalo Castro had given them a fifth-minute lead prompted the coach's ire, in sharp contrast to his opposite number Stuart Pearce, whose much-changed side claimed the point they needed to top Group B thanks to Jack Rodwell's first-half header and left their manager hailing the squad ethos.

Horst Hrubesch, Germany coach
The only thing I'm happy about is reaching the semi-finals; I can't live with the way we did it. I'm really not satisfied. We started as I planned, aggressively and offensively, but after 15 minutes I was surprised because we didn't do that any more and England got better. I spoke directly to the players at half-time and told them to fight and battle for every ball. In the second half we didn't give England any chances but we couldn't score ourselves. That's why I'm not satisfied; we showed against Spain what we can do. I expect more; our goal from the start has been to win the title and I want the team to prove this in the semi-final.

Everything started well, we scored with our first attack so we showed how [the game plan] can work. The rest of the match was one step back when compared to the Spain match. Some players have to play at the highest level and even to work at the highest level; they need to learn that it's not just about playing football but working as well. I know how we can play. My team didn't do this and that's what makes me angry. I don't send a team to the pitch looking for just one point. It was a difficult situation because one goal for England and one more for Spain would have sent us home, and I'm not a guy who takes risks like that. We had the opportunities to decide it and I expected more.

Stuart Pearce, England manager
You can do no more than win the group – we knew we were in a really tough group. We'd qualified before tonight which sometimes makes it quite difficult. That team was picked to win the match and I felt we were the better side. I asked them before we left the hotel to keep momentum, that was vitally important for me. I spelt out three weeks ago that we can only win this tournament with Nos 1 to 23 contributing. They showed momentum and that they've got a togetherness. There wasn't a split camp; the team were supported well by the players who didn't play tonight. Everyone's given a great account of themselves and put me under real pressure in terms of selection.

All the teams worry me, every day – it's my job to be worried about the opposition. We know we've got our hands full on any given day. We take our eye off the ball for any moment we could be heading back on the plane on Friday evening or Saturday morning. It's as simple as that. I've got a feeling there's a hard-nosed doggedness in that dressing room at the moment and they'll be pushed all the way by me to make sure there's no complacency.