"If we had to lose a game it was better to lose it today in a friendly, and a lot of things we learned today were very positive," Hodgson told reporters.
Hodgson became the first England manager since Sven-Goran Eriksson nine years ago to give debuts to six players in one match - three as starters and three as substitutes - as he continues to build a team capable of reaching and doing well in the World Cup in 2014.
"I thought it was a good performance. I took the risk to give debutants a chance, obviously that will open things up and I was hoping we'd hold out," he said.
"[Zlatan] Ibrahimovic scored a wonder goal to put the icing on the cake for them but for long periods of the game I can be more than satisfied. Many players who got a chance came out with great credit."
Raheem Sterling, 17, became England's fifth-youngest player of all time and had a good game in midfield, while defender Steven Caulker, 20, scored on his debut and Leon Osman, 31, also did well on his belated promotion to the side.
Skipper Steven Gerrard, winning his 100th cap, added some much-needed maturity to the team who recovered from Ibrahimovic's first goal of the match after 20 minutes to lead with two in three minutes from Danny Welbeck and Caulker.
England's media are often highly critical when the team loses but there was none of that vitriol on Thursday.
Instead they praised Ibrahimovic's performance and said there were many positives for England, even though events elsewhere meant England surrendered top place in their World Cup qualifying group on the night.
