‘The midfield experiment’: Are pundits right to be so critical of England midfield?

No pressing from Harry Kane. No cohesion in midfield. No pace in attack, no runners beyond the defence, not enough pressure on the ball.

Listen to the BBC Sport half-time talk on England’s Euro 2024 match against Denmark and you might be forgiven for thinking the Three Lions trailed by a couple of goals or were in danger of heading out of the tournament, not level at 1-1 and top of the as-it-stands group table.

It all echoed of we’re not creative enough, we’re not positive enough.

If you know, you know.

And yet, England have only conceded once – from long range – in two matches following this draw. They were pretty poor in technical terms against Denmark, yet didn’t look in danger of being overrun or blown away… though nor were they on the cusp of breaking through, constantly banging at the door for a second or overpowering their opponents physically. Gareth Southgate’s tactical set-up – unchanged from the opening match win over Serbia in personnel and formation terms – was not having the desired impact to dominate, and the former England international contingent in the television studio were scathing in their collective assessment.

Alan Shearer, Micah Richards and Rio Ferdinand offered several problems, if few solutions. Even Gary Lineker got in on the act, balancing out talk of not enough pressing by pointing out it would never happen with Kane in the team, but also suggesting his positional play was hindering the Three Lions.

The midfield bore the brunt of the criticism. Referred to as an “experiment”, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Declan Rice were unable to show their partnership was growing in a double-pivot and the calls were rapid and relentless for it to be ended – despite that having been the requested trio from many prominent voices, with Jude Bellingham completing the triumvirate, before the tournament started.

“It’s not good enough now. Nerves in the first game, that can happen. It started better today, Denmark were good, but they’re just too deep, England, Trent [Alexander-Arnold] and [Declan] Rice, they can’t get out. We’re having the same problem as the first game. In transition, Kane is so deep, we can’t get out,” was Richards’ assessment.

They got what they wanted soon enough.

Alexander-Arnold was hooked well before the hour mark, Conor Gallagher again his replacement.

His contribution amounted to an immediate yellow card, a minor amount of fortune that another foul soon after didn’t go against him, and then standing off Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg who almost scored a late winner.

The attack was also changed, captain Kane surprisingly included in those replaced by Gareth Southgate.

Increased energy and an amount of running in behind ensued.

Shearer, though, wasn’t enthused, and reserved his ire this time for some perceived missing coaching. “The forwards are going [to press] but the midfield is 20 yards behind. That tells me they haven’t worked at it – you can’t do it at this level in twos and threes, you’ll get picked off.”

With almost half the starting team altered and the intended attack approach changed, the misplaced passes did not disappear. The errors at the back did not stop. The inability to deal with a shocking pitch did not alter.

“There’s not one England player that can say ‘I’ve been at it tonight’ – they haven’t. It’s been an awful performance. There’s no energy, no pace to the game, too sloppy,” the former striker continued.

Post-match, the post-mortem continued: “Lifeless. Tepid. Tactically well below par.”

Was it richly deserved? On the 90-minute performance, sure. In tournament terms?

Surely not.

England are going through to the knockouts, without question, and have dealt with poor starts and needing to solve line-up riddles plenty of times before.

A cynic might even suggest that those in the studio and commentary boxes – Ferdinand, Shearer, Richards and even Lineker – might have been waiting to deal out some of the criticism to this England team that their own iterations had to deal with for failing and falling short, tournament after tournament.

There’s no doubt England have high expectations at the tournament and that this type of performance isn’t going to achieve them.

But perhaps after the second group game on a dismal pitch, leaving the team still unbeaten and top, isn’t quite the moment worthy of such fury and aggression as we saw on this occasion.