Tonight’s England game against Denmark at the Frankfurt Arena should be made compulsory viewing for those who blindly insist that this group of players under manager Gareth Southgate are favourites to win the Euros. No one can surely continue to believe such nonsense after yet another utterly toothless and dire display of footballing cluelessness. The match ended as a 1-1 draw but make no mistake: England were a shambles.
The team showed all the familiar failings we have come to expect from them playing at major tournaments under Southgate. Brilliant and talented footballers, who regularly excel for their clubs, are reduced to shadows of themselves under Southgate’s tutelage. The team was simply bereft of direction, ambition and leadership. Worryingly, the captain Harry Kane looked utterly lost, almost as if he didn’t know what he was being asked to do in this team. His performance was so poor that, on the BBC, pundits Micah Richards and Rio Ferdinand both called for Harry Kane to be taken off. Even presenter Gary Lineker questioned Kane’s performance. Troubling times indeed.
England were humbled tonight by an average Denmark team
The worrying signs were there from the start of the match. England started slowly in a cagey and low-key opening. Neither team managed to quite take the upper hand. Even so, it was England who took the lead in the 18th minute, courtesy of Harry Kane’s shot.
England – being Southgate’s England – simply switched off after the goal, gradually conceding more ground and possession, eventually allowing Denmark back into the game. This is almost exactly what happened in the opening match against Serbia. Does this team learn any lessons? Is the manager watching the same game as fans in the ground and television viewers?
As the first half progressed, England continued to retreat deeper into their own half, and it was a case of when, not if, Denmark would score the equaliser. It duly came when Morten Hjulmund scored from 25 yards out in the 34th minute. There was no real response from England, who trudged off at half time, disconsolate and in need of regrouping.
Anyone who knows anything about Southgate’s shortcomings when it comes to reading the flow of a game will not have been surprised that he changed nothing at half time. There were no substitutions and no discernible change in formation. England predictably started the second half in exactly the same way they finished the first 45 minutes, lacking in energy and ideas.
In the middle of the park, England looked completely lost, despite the manager’s pre-match claims that Trent Alexander-Arnold would have a vital role to play. Eight minutes into the second half, Alexander-Arnold was hauled off and replaced by Conor Gallagher – the exact same substitution was made in the game against Serbia.
The match continued to drift away from England, with Denmark growing in confidence. 70 minutes into the match, Southgate finally gambled, making a triple substitution in a belated effort to deal with England’s lacklustre performance up front. Ollie Watkins, Jarrod Bowen and Ebereche Eze came on for Phil Foden, Harry Kane and Bukayo Saka.
It says everything about England and Southgate that players of the calibre of Kane, Foden and Saka were anonymous in the game and rightly substituted. Denmark had the better of the second half, coming close to scoring a winner on a couple of occasions. Only one team looked like winning and it wasn’t England. Just as illuminating is that Denmark may not have England’s playing talent but they had a game plan, a structure and every player knew their role. No one can honestly say that about England.
Southgate, in his post-match comments accepted that the performance wasn’t good enough and that the team needed to be better at keeping the ball. He has big problems to solve if England are to progress deep into this tournament. The midfield is a mess and Trent offers no obvious answers. The defence looks wobbly, even against relatively weak teams. Up front, England offer little, lacking shape and attacking threat.
This has to be down to the coaching and tactics. What has Southgate been doing in the lead-up to this tournament? He has some of the best players in the world at his disposal but appears unable to use them properly. The biggest issue now is the role of Kane, his captain. There is a case to be made for dropping him. Is Southgate brave enough to do that? England will quickly need to find a game plan that uses Kane in a way that works for him and the team.
This team under Gareth Southgate remain something of a mystery, continuing to befuddle and bewilder rather than bedazzle at Euro 24. They can be infuriating and depressing to watch. Tonight’s match against Denmark at the Frankfurt Arena is just the latest evidence that they are a team that is less than the sum of its parts, held back by a manager who really doesn’t appear have the chops at the top level.
England were humbled tonight by an average Denmark team. The good news is that they are still in control of the group, all but guaranteed to qualify. It’s not too late to make changes and learn lessons but Southgate has to get it right pretty quickly.
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