Liverpool’s Trent Alexander-Arnold and Arsenal’s Declan Rice were exposed in the middle as Denmark fired back with a wondergoal.
England raced into a lead on Thursday, like they did against Serbia, but again the Three Lions took their foot off the gas. Morten Hjulmand took aim, from 25 yards out, and he smashed the ball into the far corner of the goal.
And after seeing the goal, Jamie Carragher took to X, formerly known as Twitter:
“Trent & Rice are far too deep when Denmark have the ball, they are too concerned with what’s behind them.
“They need to stop what’s in front of them. Centre backs need to be screaming at them to get out to enable them to push out.” And football fans agreed with the ex-Liverpool man.
“Trent should be at RB playing down that side with Saka. Wasted in midfield,” a second fumed. And another added: “It’s Southgate’s instructions. You can tell Trent and Rice have been told to stay deep and connected in front of CBs. Poor planning!”
Southgate has decided to start Alexander-Arnold in the midfield for the first two games of Euro 2024.
Explaining his role ahead of Thursday’s (June 20) clash, Southgate explained:
“I think he’s less likely to be a player who dictates tempo. That’s a different type and probably midfield players who have been in there forever and really understand the flow of a game.
“What I do see is that range of passing and that ability to open up a defence that might be blocking spaces, defending low. He’s somebody that’s going to cause opposition players to be aware that we can play balls in behind them at any point with fantastic accuracy.
“His understanding of the game is good. All the defensive responsibilities we’ve asked of him, it’s not necessarily been where he’s played for many years but he’s been really diligent and open to wanting to take that on board.
“So, look, we know it’s a work in progress. We know it’s something that’s going to get a lot of attention as it’s not been the norm. But we feel it’s something that can add to what we’ve got.”
