Denmark – England: Punishment For Passivity (1-1)

England took an early lead again here courtesy of Harry Kane, but then proceeded to play passively, sitting back in their own half. Denmark equalized in the first half, and England were unable to find a coherent attacking idea to break their opponents down, ultimately leading to a draw.

This tactical preview has been written by Josh Manley.

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Gareth Southgate’s side won in unspectacular fashion against Serbia in their first game of EURO 2024. It was a match in which England were relatively cautious after scoring the opening goal, and the game managed to set a record for the lowest number of shots in a European Championship game.

Despite the issues faced last time out, Southgate decided to stick with the same lineup for this game, meaning a back four of Kyle Walker, John Stones, Marc Guéhi, and Kieran Trippier. Trent Alexander-Arnold was alongside Declan Rice in central midfield, with Jude Bellingham at number ten, while Bukayo Saka and Phil Foden were wide. Harry Kane then played as striker in England’s 4-2-3-1 shape.

Denmark were held to a draw against Slovenia in their first game. Kasper Hjulmand’s side lined up in a 3-4-3 formation here, with Joachim Andersen, Jannik Vestergaard, and Andreas Christensen in the back three. Joakim Mæhle and Victor Kristiansen were the wing-backs, while Morten Hjulmand partnered Pierre-Emile Højbjerg in central midfield. Jonas Wind and Christian Eriksen supported Rasmus Højlund up front.


Defensive passivity

England took the lead just before twenty minutes as Kane found the net from close range after Walker had pounced on Kristiansen’s momentary lack of awareness down the right side. The first half was defined mostly by England’s passivity against the ball though, especially after this goal.

England defended in a 4-4-1-1 shape, with occasional pressing in the opponent’s half. Mostly though, England sank into their own half against the ball, sometimes falling into a low-block when Denmark had established possession.

Denmark were building in a relatively standard 3-4-3 shape, with Eriksen and Wind in the left and right halfspaces respectively. Alexander-Arnold and Rice would be responsible for tracking them, meaning they often got dragged into deeper areas.

For Denmark, the back three and central midfielders enjoyed relatively stable and comfortable circulation of the ball thanks to England’s passivity. Kane and Bellingham had little chance of dispossessing them on their own, and England’s wingers were also too passive to establish good pressure on the back three.


England allowed Denmark to take the initiative after the first goal. 


England’s defensive scheme was not disastrous. After all, they did not concede that many chances and were generally hard to break down. However, this kind of passive approach just gives opponents way more of a stake in the match in terms of possession and territory than is necessary, especially in matches where England are favourites and should be able to dominate their opponents.

Ten minutes before half-time, Hjulmand’s long-range strike beat Jordan Pickford, and Denmark were level. The goal was an example of what can happen when a team surrenders too much game control unnecessarily. Even if you defend in a relatively solid manner, the chance of conceding goals such as this increases when opponents are allowed easy play in your own half.


Possession problems continue

In the second half, England at least showed some attempts to defend higher up the pitch, and were able to play more of the game in their opponent’s half, although the pressing was still not overly convincing.

The bigger issue, however, was that England’s possession play continued to face significant problems. England’s possession game was arguably worse in this game than it was against Serbia – a match in which there were already obvious problems.

England played more clearly in a 4-2-3-1 shape in this game, as Alexander-Arnold generally remained deeper than he had against Serbia. He spent much of his time in the second line with Rice, looking to pick the ball up from the defense.

This basically meant that England were playing a less aggressive version of the system played against Serbia, since the interesting rotations with Alexander-Arnold pushing up in the right halfspace were no longer present. Southgate’s first substitute was to introduce Conor Gallagher in place of Alexander-Arnold to try and add energy to the midfield.

Foden was indenting from the left, while Saka continued to hold the width on the right side. Kane dropped between the lines slightly more often, but a big problem for England was the lack of runners in behind the defense when this happened.


England struggled to create threats from this system. 


Denmark were defending in a 5-4-1 shape, and the three center-backs were able to orient themselves almost entirely on the space in front of them due to lack of threat behind them, which massively simplified their defensive task.

The lack of threat running into depth was a continuous issue for England, and one that Southgate tried to remedy with his later changes, where he brought off both wingers plus Kane, and introduced Jarod Bowen, Eberechi Eze, and Ollie Watkins.

The benefit of having Watkins and to a lesser extent Bowen offering a threat in behind became clear on a couple of occasions for England, and it leaves Southgate with an interesting dilemma for the next game against Slovenia.

The left side was also an issue as it had been against Serbia. When Foden indents, there is a lack of width and depth on the left side without a natural overlapping left back. When he stays wide, England lack presence between the lines. Foden has struggled to affect the game positively in both matches, and England’s only real attacking threat has been on the right side with Saka.

Overall, England’s possession game lacked purpose. There seems to be no pre-established mechanisms for moving the ball forward, nor ideas about exactly how attacks should be built. Much of the play seems to be improvised.

In the end, England were unable to break Denmark down despite slight improvements after the substitutes, and the game drifted to a 1-1 draw.



Takeaways

Denmark looked quite comfortable on the ball in many phases, although were not massively dangerous going forward. Defensively they were solid, able to press high when appropriate or sit back and allow England to have the ball in unthreatening areas.

For Southgate, there is a real problem to solve in the coming days. The performances in the first two games have not been good enough for a serious attempt at winning the tournament, especially with the form shown by other top teams so far. Defensively, the team is passive, and the possession structure is too easy to defend against with a lack of threat in behind and no established mechanisms for moving the ball forward.




We decided to make all of our EURO 2024 articles free to read. If you want to support our work, consider taking a subscription.

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Josh Manley (21) is a student and aspiring coach. Heavily interested in tactics and strategy in football. Watching teams from all top European leagues, but especially Manchester United and Barcelona. [ View all posts ]

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