Friday, June 21, 2024

Below par England against Denmark



The Danish right flank were left stunned when Kyle Walker beat them with pace. 

Shaping to send a back-pass to his goalkeeper from the left touchline, Victor Kristiansen fell asleep and Walker cashed in. 

Walker stole the ball, cut inside, drilled a low cross into the Danish penalty area and it took a couple of deflections before arriving at the feet of Harry Kane - England took the lead. 

After taking the lead, quite surprisingly, England started to get behind the ball and sat deep. Denmark switched to a high line and there were spaces which England could have exploited to increase the lead. 

Denmark created pressure and gave away the ball at one of their own throw-ins and then gave Morten Hjulmund the freedom of the ploughed field to pick his spot and shoot from distance - it was the 13th goal from outside of the box in this Euro which is a week old. 

The goal should have reignited England but they remained average on the pitch. 

Trent Alexander-Arnold and Declan Rice were deployed in the midfield that did not work as they went on the back foot while Denmark were in possession. 

The structure of the midfield was affected and the connection with Jude Bellingham was not working. Then - Kane was seen sinking deeper and deeper whereas, he should have been exploiting the spaces when Denmark was attacking high line. 

There was a nerve factor against Serbia and the expectation was that England will pull themselves up in Frankfurt. 

Sadly, the performance was flat. 

And, Denmark grew as a team. 

England could have lost if Denmark's attacks were successful. There was a last-ditch quality to some of England’s defending and when Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg shaped a curler for the far corner in the 85th minute. 

England may be on the top of the table but as usual they are far from the team to lift the title.

Note: Excerpts from the The Guardian

Thank You 

Faisal Caesar 

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