Former England striker Alan Shearer is highly critical of the performance of the Three Lions in their Euro 2024 contest with Denmark.
Former England striker Alan Shearer has been highly critical of the performance of the Three Lions in their Euro 2024 contest with Denmark on Thursday night.
Harry Kane sent Gareth Southgate‘s side ahead in the 18th minute in Frankfurt, but a long-range strike from Morten Hjulmand saw the points shared in the Group C fixture.
England remain firmly on course to advance to the knockout round of the competition, with the team finishing their group-stage campaign against Slovenia on Tuesday night.
The Three Lions are top of their section, two points ahead of both second-placed Denmark and third-placed Slovenia, and three ahead of fourth-placed Serbia.
Shearer has insisted that head coach Southgate is not getting the best out of his players, claiming that the current set-up is not helping the likes of John Stones, Declan Rice, Phil Foden, Jude Bellingham, Bukayo Saka and Kane.
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Hjulmand’s sensational hit cancelled out Kane opener
“Let’s use John Stones as an example,” Shearer told BBC Sport. “How many times do you see him get the ball and run into midfield, or get the ball with his back and turn in the Man[chester] City team? So many times. He’s brilliant at it.
“How many times have you seen him do it in the last two England games? I can’t remember any.
“How many times do you see Declan Rice getting that ball and bursting forward? How many times have you seen him do it in an England shirt in the last two games? None.
“How many times do you see Phil Foden get on the ball in the middle of the park, turn? Maybe once tonight when he had the shot and hit the post. So Gareth at the minute is not getting the best out of England’s best players. It was very poor, it wasn’t good enough.
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Shearer insists current set-up is not working
“We’ve all been there as players, and yes you do try and take the positives, and yes it is tournament football. But it’s our job and the coaches’ jobs to dissect what went wrong, and there’s plenty to look at there.
“Where do you start? No energy, no guile, I wouldn’t say a lack of effort or not trying, but there’s so much more to come from those players. I look at Jude [Bellingham] tonight, he couldn’t put one foot in front of the other. He couldn’t get forward.
“I look at Phil Foden on the left – is he affecting the game? No chance. I look at [Bukayo] Saka and Harry Kane, I know he [Kane] got his goal and I mentioned it on commentary about running in behind.
“At least when [Ollie] Watkins came on the defenders were running in behind. It was really poor and it is concerning, absolutely.”
England are still regarded as one of the favourites to win Euro 2024, and the Three Lions produced their best-ever performance at the 2020 competition, reaching the final before losing to Italy on penalties.
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