Gareth Southgate believes there’s another level England have to find following the disappointing 1-1 with Denmark.
England knew a win would see them qualify for the knockout stages, but despite taking the lead through Kane, they weren’t at the races, and turned in a poor performance.
Southgate’s men sat back and allowed Denmark back into the game, and they equalised through a brilliant strike from Morten Hjulmand, but neither side were able to find a winner.
England have another level to go to
Southgate named an unchanged line-up from the game against Serbia, with many expecting an improved display against the Danes.
In what is becoming a familiar pattern England sat off after scoring instead of going for the kill and dropped deeper and deeper inviting pressure onto themselves.
The team looked really unbalanced, especially in midfield where Declan Rice and Trent Alexander-Arnold really struggled, whilst the attack, particularly Harry Kane, looked off it.
That level of performance is not what’s expected with a team that possesses so much quality and Southgate acknowledged England have to find another level.
“Clearly not what we would have hoped [for],” he told BBC One.
“We’re not using the ball well enough and we have to accept that if you do that you will suffer at times as we have tonight, we know there’s another level we have to find.”
Southgate also feels there’s still a huge amount of work to do given the performances in the opening two games, and understands people will be disappointed.
“There’s a huge amount of work, that’s evident from the two performances we’ve given and we’ve got to be tight,” he added.
“We understand people will be disappointed with the performances and rightly so and we’ve got to make them better.”
England will have to wait until the final group game against Slovenia on Tuesday to seal their place in the knockout stages, and a much improved performance will be required.