More questions were asked over Gareth Southgate’s tactics and team selection as England laboured to a 1-1 draw with Denmark in their second Euro 2024 game.
The Three Lions had the chance to win Group C and book their place in the knockout phase with two games to spare, but instead they were booed off the pitch by fans in the stadium and no doubt from those sitting at home, too.
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On paper, England have one of the strongest teams in international football, jam packed with forward-thinking players who light up the Premier League on a weekly basis - though boss Southgate appears to be ruing not having Kalvin Phillips to call on.
And yet against Denmark it appeared the creativity and flair we see from Trent Alexander-Arnold, Phil Foden, Bukayo Saka and Jude Bellingham was sapped out of them.
Harry Kane’s opener in the 18th minute looked to have set England on their way to a big win over an ageing Denmark team, but fans frustrated with how they scored and then sat back in their opening win over Serbia were left absolutely fuming this time, as it happened again.
Pundits were angry too, with England legend Stuart Pearce saying on talkSPORT: “We’ve got absolutely no idea what we’re trying to achieve.”
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talkSPORT host Adrian Durham, reporting live from the Deutsche Bank Park in Frankfurt, delivered his marks out of ten after another unconvincing night for Southgate’s men.
To the point as always, Durham wasted little time in getting stuck in on the England stars after a horrible game.
He said after the full-time whistle: “England were clueless, talentless, hopeless, they lacked energy, they lacked ideas, they lacked quality. Just not good enough!
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“It might be good enough to get out of the group, but I'm totally disappointed and deflated about what I've seen.”
“Worst performance for England”
While fans and pundits were raging about what they were seeing unfold on the pitch, it appeared some of the England stars were at odds with the tactics being given to them.
That’s certainly something Adrian noticed from his position in the commentary gantry: “At times it seemed like Declan Rice was arguing with Jordan Pickford.
“There were debates between the two of them. Pickford wanted to send the ball long, but Rice seemed to keep telling him to calm down and kept playing it short.
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“Rice was playing really deep, he sold Marc Guehi short with a pass backwards that nearly got us in trouble, and it was Guehi to the rescue. Rice was poor today, that’s not normally him.
Rice was then handed a 2/10 rating by Durham, who said: "He was so deep I thought he was in Switzerland, Rice kept telling everyone to slow down but God knows why. His worst performance for England."
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"Experiment isn't working"
Rice's midfield partner Alexander-Arnold didn't fare much better than the Arsenal star on Thursday.
He was substituted in the 53rd minute, which is the earliest change Southgate has ever made in a tournament game, for Conor Gallagher.
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On giving Alexander-Arnold a 3/10, Durham said: "The 'Trent in midfield' experiment isn’t working."
Perhaps more surprisingly it was an off-day for England's arguably two most important players in Kane and Bellingham, who were both given scores of 4/10.
On Bellingham, Durham said: "A rare poor performance from the great man."
And on Kane, Durham added: "He scored but then gave the ball away carelessly for the Danes equaliser. Flat. Dragged off."
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"Where's Cold Palmer?"
“Things have to change drastically,” Adrian concluded.
“Again, the substitutions will be questioned. I was surprised Saka and Foden were taken off. I thought those two showed a lot of enterprise. There was a lot of energy from Saka, I thought he was one of our best players and yet they got taken off, it seemed very strange.
“And one more thing: Cole Palmer, arguably the best player in the Premier League towards the end of the season, sat on the bench and stayed there.
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“What is going on with this England side? They were truly terrible here today and think they were lucky to get a draw.
“Boos from the England fans were warranted. In the context of this group it’s not the end of the world,but if we’re going to go deep in the tournament and we want to win the thing, we’ve got to play a whole lot better than that.”
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England player ratings vs Denmark
Jordan Pickford – 6/10
Kyle Walker – 6/10
Kieran Trippier – 5/10
John Stones – 4/10
Marc Guehi – 8/10
Declan Rice – 2/10
Jude Bellingham – 4/10
Trent Alexander-Arnold – 3/10
Phil Foden – 6/10
Bukayo Saka – 7/10
Harry Kane – 4/10
SUBS:
Conor Gallagher – 6/10
Ollie Watkins – 6/10
Eberechi Eze – 5/10
Jarrod Bowen – 6/10
talkSPORT will bring you live commentary of EVERY game at Euro 2024. Tune in via the website or the app, and follow our live Euro 2024 blog for all the latest news, views and reaction to the big moments.
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