England manager Gareth Southgate revealed his disappointment in the way his side have played in their two games at Euro 2024 – despite one win and one draw.
The Three Lions drew 1-1 with Denmark on Thursday, a result that leaves them top of Group C and in a strong position to qualify for the last 16.
However, just as in England’s 1-0 win over Serbia on Sunday, Southgate’s side failed to maintain control of the match and did not perform at their best.
“We understand people will be disappointed with the performances and rightly so – we have to make them a lot better,” said Southgate in an interview on BBC One.
“At the moment we’re not using the ball well enough and have to accept if you do that you will suffer at times, as we have. We know there’s another level we have to find.”
In Frankfurt, Harry Kane gave England an 18th-minute lead with his first goal of the tournament, only for Denmark to equalise 16 minutes later through Morten Hjulmand’s long-range strike.
But Denmark – 16 spots below fifth-placed England in the Fifa rankings – were the better team for large parts of the second half, although England did hit the post through Phil Foden.
Southgate’s side could not find a winning goal that would have taken them through with a game to spare.
“There’s a huge amount of work to do, that’s evident from the two performances we have given – clearly it was not what we would’ve hoped for,” added Southgate.
“We’ve played teams that are quite fluid in a back three and it’s not easy to get pressure on them but we definitely have to do better than we have done in these two matches, that has been part of the problem, but also not keeping the ball well enough.
