Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand admits he was very proud to lead England in Wednesday night's friendly defeat in France.

Ferdinand said: "When leading the team out, I don't think you would have found a prouder man on the planet. It was a great honour and something that will live long in the memory.

"You can't look back and think 'I feel bad or out of place.' I am comfortable with any surrounding I am put in. I just deal with the situation.

"Who knows how long it will be for but I'm very grateful for the manager for giving me that opportunity. Whether he deems me the right man long term for the job, I'll have to wait and see.

"The manager has got to make the decisions, big decisions, and the captaincy is one of them."

But Ferdinand insisted: "It is not about personal issues. The team didn't win but there are positives to be taken from Wednesday.

"At times we passed the ball very well, albeit with not creating as many chances as we would have liked, but we were getting into decent positions and kept the ball quite well for decent periods of the first half.

"People wanted to get on the ball and play. For periods in the first half we showed an advance from before in that area and we wanted to get on the ball and take control of the game.

"People say a cutting edge has to be added but, don't forget, we've not been together long and the new manager not had long to implement his own ideas and his own strategies."