Southgate’s woes continue with another limp display
England ended the most challenging international camp of Gareth Southgate’s reign with another forgettable display as their Nations League trip to Denmark finished goalless.
As if the corona virus measures, fitness concerns and Harry Maguire’ s withdrawal were not enough for the England boss to contend with, South gate sent Mason Greenwood and Phil Fo den home on the eve of the Copenhagen clash after breaching the bio bubble.
South gate certainly has plenty to mull over after their first international break in ten months, with England failing to score from op en play in either of their matches as last night’s encounter in Denmark ended in a 0 - 0 draw.
Three days on from Ra he em Sterling’ s penalty sealing an unconvincing win in Iceland, the team again frustrated with the attackers isolated and midfield lacking creativity in front of a threeman back line featuring debutant Conor Coady.
K alvin Phillips was the other new boy in the starting line-up against Denmark, who looked the bigger firsthalf threat and went closest through a Kasp er Dolb erg strike that forced Jordan Pickford into action.
The match continued in a similar vein until Southgate brought on Mason Mount and debutant Jack Grealish, but there was not enough time–or perhaps energy left in their team-mates’ legs – to eke out victor y against Kasper Hjulmand’s Danes.
A ins ley Ma it land-Nile s became England’ s fourth de but ant of the evening– and sixth across these two matches – before Harry Kane saw a stoppage-time winner denied by Mathias Jorgensen’s goal-line clearance.
After wards, Coady hailed his debut as “a dream come true”, but admitted he was disappointed to have to settle for a draw. The Wolves
defender looked assured on his first appearance for the senior side.
When asked by Sky Sports how proud he was of his debut, Coady, 27, said: “Immensely, it is a dream come true. I said how much it means to me. There are some world-class players in this team, don’t let anybody else tell you differently.
“It is 0 - 0, a clean sheet, we are happy with that, but disappointed we didn’t come away with three points. I don’ t care about my own performance as long as we win.
Midfielder G real ish won his first cap, to o, as a second-half substitute.
“I was actually a bit emo - tional,” said the Aston Villa player.
“I was so privileged coming on and it was a shame we couldn’t win in the end.”
Denmark: Schmeichel, Wass, Mathias Zanka Jorgensen, Christensen, Skov, Norgaard (Hojbjerg 73), Eriksen, Delaney, Poulsen, Dolberg (Jensen 76), Braithwaite (Kjaer 82). Subs not used: Andersen, Ronnow, Cornelius, Dalsgaard, Maehle, Vestergaard, Christiansen, Lossl, Bruun Larsen.
England: Pickford, Gomez, Coady, Dier, Alexander-arnold (Maitland-niles 87), Rice, Phillips (Grealish 76), Trippier, Sancho (Mount 60), Kane, Sterling. Subs not used: Mings, Henderson, Abraham, Ings, Keane, Pope.