It’s strange, because he’s been the manager for a while now - 7 years - and he’s helped them achieve very good results, so you’d expect things to be slotting into place and for England to be really strong now, but it hasn’t worked out that way. I suppose that is part of what makes football so exciting.
Southgate comes across as a really lovely man and a pretty consistent manager (if you look at his results over the last few years), and the team are all lovely and massively talented, but their performance tonight was a bit disappointing.
It could have been a much worse result, as everyone knew that Denmark were going to be a difficult team to play against and England could’ve lost, so a draw is not bad in the grand scheme of things.
From Harry Kane’s post-match interview, it seems like his performance was all part of a wider plan. Maybe the team will shift up a gear or two in the next few games.
I’m just not convinced that England will manage well in the later stages of the tournament, even if they get lucky with who they play against.
Separately, I worry about how the team will manage when Pickford and Kane are too old to play.
Kane is an outstanding player, who will be so missed by the team when he retires. I have a feeling that players like Bellingham, Saka and Palmer are helping to prepare the team for when he leaves, but he’ll obviously leave a big hole in the team.
On the other hand, I’m not sure who could replace Pickford. He’s a top-class goalkeeper and has saved the team from many sticky situations, and I think his ability masks the team’s weaknesses. Can’t think of someone who could easily step in to replace him when he leaves.