Denmark 1-1 England (Hjulmand 34 | Kane 18′)
FRANKFURT — Let’s start with the good news: England don’t play again for several days, so you can all desperately try and think about something else to rid your psyche of the growing sense of angst about this European Championship campaign. There are several issues to fix before then. * Sweeps arms in the direction of everything *
Judge this match not by its final score, but by the reaction to the whistle that signalled it. At one end of the Deutsche Bank Stadium, a sea of red danced to a house anthem as if they had won a tournament.
From the other three sides came the distinctive sound of mutiny. England were booed from the pitch at a major tournament for the first time since the Iceland debacle in 2016.
Three minutes after full-time, Kasper Hjulmand’s players stood in front of their congregation, staring up with glassy eyes at the adoration that was being bestowed upon them.
England tried to do their own goodbyes and thank yous, which are normally well-received. They mostly faced the backs of shirts that bore their names. Nobody was sticking around to applaud this.
Pick your own most frustrating moments and rant about them to your friends and family – there are enough to go around. For this frustrated witness, the worst came in stoppage time of the second half, during which England won two free-kicks on the halfway line.
Not only did they take 20 seconds over each, sending a message that they were happy with a draw, but they let Jordan Pickford come 50 yards up the pitch only to play a short pass to a defender who knocked it long.
One of those passes went out of play, the other to a Danish head. It sends a message, fair or otherwise, either that they didn’t know what they were doing or had been so spooked by their own ineptitude that all they wanted to do was get off the pitch.
The 93 minutes before that weren’t great either. England took an early lead and then sat back (I know, you’re shocked too). They were hurried and hassled by Denmark’s high press and showed no ability to play through it without making mistakes. The pitch was desperately poor and may have made progress hard, but the Danes seemed to cope just fine.
Without the ball, England were worse. There was a gaping hole where the midfield should be, Jude Bellingham didn’t seem to know where to go or what to do and the two full-backs got caught with runners in behind. Apart from that…
In the heat of the moment, we must at least proffer that nothing has gone badly wrong yet. England have almost certainly qualified for the knockout stages.
Beat Slovenia in their final group match and they will top their group. England have also been wretched in their recent second group games: 0-0 vs Scotland, 0-0 vs USA, 1-1 vs Denmark. On result alone, this was the best of the three.
But Gareth Southgate would be stupid to attempt that defence because he will have heard the boos. This job, impossible or otherwise, is retained partly by your results and partly by keeping the court of public opinion onside. in
Social media may have put the boot in long ago, and England supporters railed against him back in June 2022 during a Nations League 4-0 defeat to Hungary in Wolverhampton, but until now those fans who travel to World Cups and European Championships have stuck with him.
That hasn’t yet changed for good. England can win a group, right some wrongs and still go deep into this tournament and it would be stupid to write them or anyone else off based on this.
But make no mistake: Southgate is playing catch-up on the worst possible stage and at the worst possible time. This is a team made up of excellent component parts that looks fragmented and confused.
from Football - inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/9UlBgbe
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