Alan Shearer felt there was “no excuse” for a performance that lacked energy after England were held to a frustrating 1-1 draw by Denmark at Euro 2024 on Thursday.
England struggled to impose themselves in their second Group C outing in Germany after Harry Kane’s opener in Frankfurt was cancelled out by a fine strike from Morten Hjulmand.
Former England captain Shearer, working as a pundit for the the BBC, said: “You can see players lying on their backs – they look absolutely shattered, the England players. There’s no excuse for that.
“There was no energy, no pace to the game. We didn’t run in behind until the last 10 or 15 minutes, we got caught too many times on the ball, too many sloppy passes and in truth, Denmark were the better team and deserved to win.
“It was very poor, it wasn’t good enough. I wouldn’t say lack of effort, not trying, but there’s so much more to come from those players.”
Former England defender Rio Ferdinand bemoaned the tactics adopted by manager Gareth Southgate.
Asked about the performance, Ferdinand said: “Lacklustre, lacked any sort of direction in my eyes, tactically well below par – we were overshadowed tactically, I thought, by the Denmark team.
“You have to give them that respect, they were well-drilled, tactically superior, pressed us better, pressed us together.
“I thought England looked very average. Our best players, our most decisive players, our best players (are) at the top of the pitch and we choose to set up to defend.
“We’ve got too good players to sit back and hope to get through a game. We need to get to the bottom of, are they being told to do this, or are the players actually just being forced to do that by the opposition?”