‘We have to find another level’, says Southgate

England manager Gareth Southgate was visibly disappointed with his team’s performances in their first two games at Euro 2024, despite securing a win and a draw. The Three Lions’ 1-1 against Denmark on Thursday, following a narrow 1-0 win over Serbia on Sunday, has left them at the top of Group C and in a strong position to qualify for the last 16, but their performance is far from expected.

“We understand people will be disappointed with the performances and rightly so – we have to make them a lot better. 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.”

Gareth Southgate reflects on England’s disappointing performance against Denmark.

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Southgate highlighted the challenges his team has faced, particularly in pressing and ball retention. “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,” he said. “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.”, he said after the game.