England produced an alarmingly poor performance as they struggled to a 1-1 draw with Denmark and missed the chance to book their place in the knockouts at Euro 2024.
After Slovenia and Serbia had drawn earlier in the day, England kicked off knowing victory over the Danes would confirm them as pool winners – and they looked on course for the last 16 when Harry Kane converted from close range after a rapid Kyle Walker picked the pocket of a sleeping Victor Kristiansen.
However, England were criticised for sitting back after going ahead against Serbia in their Euros opener and they did exactly the same here. Gareth Southgate’s side, dropping deep and lacking intensity, were wayward with their passing. Jude Bellingham – the star on Sunday – was anonymous, Trent Alexander-Arnold out of sorts in midfield.
There were scrappy, dangerous moments in the England box as Denmark sought an equaliser but there was nothing scruffy about Morten Hjulmand’s stunning leveller, which he hammered in off a post after Kane gave the ball away deep in his own half.
Bukayo Saka tried to rally his side after the break, looping a header over Kasper Schmeichel and into the side-netting and he was unable to turn in the rebound when Phil Foden drove against an upright after the disappointing Alexander-Arnold had been hooked. Southgate’s midfield experiment with the Liverpool man will surely be paused now.
The England head coach is rarely bold but this performance demanded an intervention and it came with a triple change on 69 minutes. Ollie Watkins, Jarrod Bowen and Eberechi Eze on. Captain Kane, Saka and Foden off. And there was almost an instant impact with Watkins nipping in behind the Danish defence before his shot was saved from a tight angle.
But with the otherwise impressive Marc Guehi having to frantically recover after giving the ball away and Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg whistling a shot wide, England couldn’t shake off their lethargy.
With four points from their opening two games, England are already all-but sure of progressing from the group to the knock-out stages.
But they won’t be going far in Germany with this kind of display.
Neville: Unless Southgate changes things, we know how this ends
Sky Sports’ Gary Neville on ITV: “It does feel like we’ve been here before. It’s not a time for panic. I don’t think Gareth Southgate does panic but it is time for him to interfere and find solutions and change something because of three things we’ve seen in these first two games.
“There’s an imbalance in the team, square pegs in round holes. Because of that you start to drop deep as a protective measure because you feel like you are not comfortable. Then the third thing occurs, which has happened to England over the years, and you can’t play out through midfield and play out from the back. You end up giving the ball away and we look like a mess.
“We know how this ends. He has to change something now.”
Analysis: England’s issues are glaring – but not quick fixes
Phil Foden remains an enigma for England
Sky Sports’ Peter Smith:
England may have got away with one here. This performance didn’t warrant a point. But fixing the issues in-tournament and shifting the momentum substantially enough to seriously challenge for the title – as so many expected them to do – is going to be a huge task for Gareth Southgate. Some of the solutions aren’t obvious.
One of the biggest and most worrying issues is the fitness and energy levels of the team. There was a severe lack of intensity in and out of possession against Denmark. Jude Bellingham was surprisingly off colour, Harry Kane was one-paced. England were too-often stretched, too often passed by. Their physical conditioning is a major concern.
Victory could have given Southgate the chance to make wholesale changes against Slovenia. England’s tired-looking players now need to go again on Tuesday.
Then there are tactical problems. The yawning gaps between Bellingham and the holding midfielders behind him, who fell back onto their centre-halves, raised questions about the balance in the middle of the park. Certainly, Trent Alexander-Arnold won’t be starting in midfield against Slovenia.
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Kaveh Solhekol reacted to England’s 1-1 draw with Denmark and felt England were lucky not to lose the match. Trent Alexander-Arnold also seemed to struggle in his midfield role which could see the end of this experiment from Gareth Southgate.
England’s combination play was way off. The enigma of Phil Foden and how to get a Premier League player of the season performance out of him in an England shirt remains a dilemma. Kane’s role – dropping deep or high – seems unclear.
Throwing on three attackers in the second half suggested Southgate was grasping for an answer. But he has tough problems to solve.
Trent Alexander-Arnold’s stats vs Denmark
Star performer: Guehi stands out among the mess
Sky Sports’ Peter Smith:
There was little to like about this England performance but Marc Guehi can at least hold his head high after backing up his impressive display against Serbia with another convincing outing at centre-back.
England’s defence is far from rock solid. There were plenty of nervy moments against Denmark. But the Crystal Palace man often stepped in to deal with the danger.
Marc Guehi put in an impressive performance at centre back
It wasn’t faultless – but even when he gave the ball away late on he was able to scamper back to make up for his error.
Coming into this tournament, central defence, with Harry Maguire out injured, seemed like a major worry for Southgate. But the England boss has bigger concerns now.
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Ryan Bertrand reacts to Denmark’s goal to level it in the Euros game against England.
What they said…
England boss Gareth Southgate to BBC: “Clearly it wasn’t what we would’ve hoped. We’re not using the ball well enough and have to accept if you do that you’re going to suffer at times as we have tonight. We know there’s another level we’re going to have to find.
“We’ve played teams who are quite fluid in back threes, it’s not easy to get pressure on them, but we’ve definitely got to do it better than we have in these two matches.
“[Alexander-Arnold in midfield is] an experiment, we know we don’t have a natural replacement for Kalvin Phillips but we’re trying some different things – and at the moment we’re not flowing as we’d like.
“There’s a huge amount of work [to win the Euros], that’s evident from the performances we’ve given. We have to stay tight, we understand people will be disappointed with the performances – and rightly so. We’ve got to make them better.”
Harry Kane’s stats vs Denmark
England captain Harry Kane to BBC: “We’re starting games well, but when the opponents are dropping a few players deeper we’re not quite sure how to get the pressure on and who’s supposed to be going.
“We’re struggling with and without the ball. We’ll have to go away and look back at it, but the pressure hasn’t been quite right in both games, and we haven’t been good enough with the ball top to bottom, that’s me all the way back to [Jordan] Pickford.”