90min

Twitter Reacts as Ten-Men England Follow Up Belgium Win With Tepid Defeat to Denmark

By Ross Kennerley

Not a great day
Not a great day / Pool/Getty Images
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England beat Belgium in their last game. You might have heard of them, they're the number one ranked team in the world.

Yeah, pretty good stuff.

So when Denmark came to town on Wednesday night, we were hoping for more of the same. Such a morale boosting win can only be followed by a confident, assured and composed performance, right?

Unfortunately, all of those words can't be attributed to this England team.

Red cards, penalties and a blue kit all featured at Wembley on a night to forget for the Three Lions.

However, it did start well. Reece James and Mason Mount were linking up well down the right side, with the former looking lively alongside his Chelsea teammate.

England showed far more intent than they had done in recent matches - especially in that first half against Belgium - with them having some joy.

Kalvin Phillps earned praise for his role in the start.

But it all came tumbling down.

Harry Maguire, already in danger after a foolish yellow card, lost control of the ball before trying to make amends with a reckless lunge. The second yellow came up. Off he went.

A supremely poor half hour demonstrated quite clearly that all isn't well at present for the Manchester United captain.

It got worse for the home side.

For reasons only he will know, Jordan Pickford decided to come flying out of his box to collect a ball that was in front of Kyle Walker. The Manchester City defender, disoriented by Pickford's bemusing plan, conceded a foul - albeit a really soft one - to hand Denmark a penalty.

Christian Eriksen didn't miss.

Gareth Southgate, needing to reshuffle his pack, then angered supporters by opting to haul off Ainsley Maitland-Niles and shift James out on the left.

Twitter was not happy to see the best player on the pitch forced to swap sides.

There were no further goals, or indeed action, as for the rest of the game Denmark were as calm as you'd like in and out of possession, with England offering precious little.

Mount did go close with a header, only to be denied by a fine save.

It would be unjust to say they battled, but England at least meandered towards a late equaliser, one which never came.

After Mount's header there was a weak claim for a penalty, followed finally by a Coady header cleared off the line (it wasn't as dramatic as it sounds).

With the final seconds ticking down and Pickford left with one chance to thump a free-kick into the box, the man praised for being the best England goalkeeper with his feet trickled the soppiest, weakest attempt barely beyond the first man. Summed it all up, really.

Heck, at least there is club football to look forward to now, right?