England were held to a 1-1 draw with Denmark in their Euro 2024 group match with problems for Gareth Southgate to address.
Harry Kane gave the Three Lions the perfect start after 18 minutes, finishing smartly in the six yard area.
But the familiar concerns emerged shortly after with the Danes deservedly level through Morten Hjulmand’s stunning strike 10 minutes before the half-time whistle.
England are still on course to qualify for the knockout stages of the competition but missed the chance to do it as group winners tonight.
Slovenia await in their final group game next Tuesday but a very alarming performance will give Southgate plenty to think about.
Same old problems after going ahead
England fans will still be haunted by Croatia in 2018 and how it happened again against Italy 2021. The signs were there again in the narrow win over Serbia on Sunday and against the Danes, it was at its infuriating worst.
The trend of meekly surrendering control after scoring the opening goal continued in rotten fashion on Thursday and while Morten Hjulmand’s majestic strike was something special, it had been coming from the moments the Danes kicked off again after Kane’s opener.
England were so deep at one point in the first half, Kane’s only option was to try and bulldoze his way up field 70 yards out from goal, quickly swarmed and snuffed out. No runners and no movement undermined anything and everything England tried to muster.
England woefully careless in possession
Even sitting deep, England’s carelessness with the ball was staggering. Declan Rice, Kyle Walker and John Stones, so used to crisply finding their teammates with ease, were the worst offenders in the first-half. It was Kane’s wayward pass in-field that found its way to Hjulmand to score from range.
The searing heat in Frankfurt and the turf that began tearing up from the opening minutes will not have helped by the inability to keep the ball under no pressure was a huge concern.
The end of the Alexander-Arnold experiment
Alexander-Arnold was also among those guilty of being too careless on the ball with England’s midfield lacking any zip or penetration. The Liverpool right-back was given eight minutes of the second-half to turn things around but by minute 54, his evening was over with Conor Gallagher given his chance.
Alexander-Arnold didn’t necessarily have a bad game against Serbia but was among the most passive of those in England shirts. The school of thought among many pundits leading into the competition was that Alexander-Arnold in midfield should be successful enough to navigate the group stages. But it appears to have failed at its first meaningful test.
Harry Kane no longer untouchable
Kane registered just three touches of the ball in the first-half against Serbia. He had beaten that tally within the opening 10 minutes against Denmark, on the score sheet after 18 but his static performance leading the line was a problem.
Former England internationals Rio Ferdinand and Alan Shearer were left exasperated with his performance and the sight of him being replaced with 20 minutes of the game left was welcomed.
Kane persistently dropping deep left England starved of an out ball, exacerbating problems in midfield rather than solving them. Denmark found it far too easy to mark him out of the game, aside from the goal, and Watkins’ introduction immediately injected some life into proceedings, picked out by Bellingham only to be denied by Kasper Schmeichel.
It leaves Southgate with a huge dilemma on his hands for the rest of the competition.
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