June 21 – England manager Gareth Southgate says the country must improve after suffering a barrage of criticism for failing once again to get the best out of his talented side.
Southgate, whose team last night was booed from the pitch by the England fans who bothered to stay to watch them leave, is the most successful England boss since Alf Ramsey but his chances of finally ending a 68-year trophy drought despite several near-misses looks less likely than ever following the turgid 1-1 draw with the superior Danes.
England arrived in Germany as many pundits’ favourites to win the tournament but have struggled to live up to the hype. They were fortunate to escape with a 1-0 win over Serbia after a limp second half display in their Group C opener and fared even worse in Thursday’s lacklustre 1-1 draw with Denmark.
Southgate admitted there is a “huge amount of work to do” after the Three Lions were booed by their supporters for their lacklustre showing at the Frankfurt Arena.
England’s display will hardly strike fear into Europe’s elite even though the country is top of Group C with four points and have virtually qualified for the round of 16, needing need at least a draw against Slovenia on Tuesday to automatically book their place in the knockout phase.
England started with the same eleven that unconvincingly beat Serbia and yet again struggled after going ahead.
Even when Southgate made wholesale changes, England looked void of quality and imagination, their supposedly much-feared forward line again failing to reproduce their club form – partly because too many of them are playing out of position
“We have to stay tight, we understand people will be disappointed with the performances – and rightly so. We’ve got to make them better,” was the manager’s response.
Captain Harry Kane, England’s record goal scorer yet one of those substituted, agreed that the team needed to rediscover their form.
“For sure, we’ve got levels that we can reach and we can be better both with the ball and without the ball, there’s no question,” he said.
“But I think the sign of a good team is when you’re not playing at your best and you still find a way to get results, like we have done in the last two games. We’re top of the group, we’re all-but qualified, which is the number one objective and yes, we know we can improve.”
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