Following England's Europa League group stage draw with Denmark, England boss Gareth Southgate was interviewed on British television, giving an in-depth analysis and reflection on the match.
On the game as a whole, Southgate admitted: "Obviously it wasn't the result we were hoping for. We weren't efficient enough with the ball and it's important to recognize that when you do that, sometimes you suffer setbacks, as we did tonight. We understand we need to step up to the next level."
When asked if he had the team pull back after the goal, he said, "No. The team we faced played very fluidly in a three-at-the-back system and it was really difficult to put pressure on them. But we have to do better than the last two games and not controlling the ball is another problem that needs to be addressed."
Explaining why he replaced Arnold, Southgate said, "I wanted to bring Gallagher on, we needed his energy and better ability to apply pressure and Gallagher was excellent at that."
On Arnold's performance in midfield, Southgate commented, "He showed in certain moments what we were expecting. We know it's a trial because there is no natural replacement for Calvin Phillips and we are experimenting with different combinations. At the moment, we are not as fluent as we would like to be."
Speaking about the decision to replace Kane, he explained, "We needed an injection of fresh energy. Having played two games in a short period of time, fresh blood was needed to increase the pressure. Considering that Kane has only played one full game in a month, we took that decision."
Southgate also spoke about England's future focus: "There's still a lot of work to be done and it's clear from these two games. We have to work more closely together. We understand the disappointment in the performance, which is justified, and we have to improve our performance."
Finally, he re-emphasized the problems in the game: "We know that the outside world is disappointed with our performance. At the moment we are not applying the required intensity in terms of pressure, which leads to us having to retreat. These are problems and we need to find solutions. We will evaluate both games and work together to solve them. If you give your opponents too much space to pass, they will make passes that could hurt you."
