Pearce has no complaints

Stuart Pearce has no complaints as his side were outplayed in last night's final by a free-scoring Germany, losing the match by four goals to nil.

The England under-21 coach said: "I must congratulate the German side to win any final is an achievement and to win 4-0 in a final is a big achievement."

Pearce admits to being hurt by the performance and notes that the players were disappointed after their resounding defeat.

"It hurts, it hurts me, the players are crestfallen in the dressing room and I expected that of them," he said.

"We have to learn by it it’s a harsh lesson we had to watch Germany go up and lift the trophy in front of our eyes. But credit to them I can't take anything away form their coach and their team, they played doggedly in all five matches once they got here and credit to them."

With Gabriel Agbonlahor and Frazier Campbell suspended for the final, Theo Walcott was forced to play as a lone striker, something that he has not previously had experience of.

Pearce brushed off criticism that he had limited himself to striking options when he replaced the injured Danny Welbeck with midfielder, Danny Rose, before the tournament.

"From the offset we said its going to be a 23 man squad I have to stick by that now, we went into the semi final with 23 fit players and no suspended players, and by the time we got into the final we lost three of those."

German coach, Horst Hrubesch was visibly delighted with the result, he said: "I am proud of the team especially with a four goal difference. The team started well and they scored at the right time. The only thing that I was worried about at half time was that we had the chance to decide the match earlier and we did not, so I was very relieved to see the team continuing to play."

Mesut Ozil was the stand-out player for Germany, and Pearce admits he was a handful.

The former Manchester City manager said: "I think he’s an outstanding player who’s played very well in the tournament. He takes up intelligent positions on the pitch and hes been one of Germany's major players in this tournament - he was a threat to us without a doubt."

Pearce will now be planning for the next under-21 tournament in two years time. He will however have to do without a number of players who had key roles in ensuring England's final appearance, as James Milner and Mark Noble, amongst others, will be ineligible for the next competition.