YOU don’t have to win every game to triumph at a major tournament. At some stage, though, you have to start playing well. So, while England’s draw with Denmark is hardly a disaster in terms of their prospects of qualifying for the knockout stage of the Euros given that they sit at the top of their group, two points clear of their final opponents, Slovenia, the manner of yet another bitterly-disappointing performance has well and truly set the alarm bells ringing.

This was England, rinse and repeat. Cautious, disjointed and with a number of potentially key players clearly playing out of position. The problems were all there in the opening game against Serbia, and they were even more apparent as England were fortunate to escape with a draw against the Danes.

Leading through Harry Kane’s early opener, England were outplayed for the best part of an hour as Denmark rallied, equalised through a long-range strike from Morten Hjulmand and then passed up a couple of decent second-half chances for a winner.

England struck the post through Phil Foden, but Trent Alexander-Arnold was badly out-of-sorts again at the heart of midfield, Jude Bellingham was unable to hit the standards he scaled at the weekend and Gareth Southgate was left with a series of questions to answer, both in terms of his tactics and the general sense of conservatism he has indoctrinated into his squad. Why do England’s players underperform so regularly with their national team? Increasingly, it is hard not to conclude that it must have a fair bit to do with the manager.

The pattern of yesterday’s game was remarkably similar to Sunday’s opener against Serbia, which is turn was similar to so many matches on Southgate’s watch. England scored inside the opening 20 minutes, but then retreated into their shell, inviting their opponents to come onto them. At the weekend, Serbia lacked the attacking firepower to take advantage of England’s cautious mindset. Here, Denmark were deservedly back level before the break.

For the second game in a row, there was no sign of the drop-off coming in the opening 20 minutes or so, with England starting positively as they looked to get onto the front foot.

Foden curled an early effort over after turning neatly in the 18-yard box, and when England’s opener arrived in the 18th minute, it came via the most reliable of sources.

Kyle Walker was the architect of the strike, bursting beyond a switched-off Victor Kristiansen to reach Bellingham’s slide-rule pass. Kristiansen thought he had the situation covered, but the wing-back hadn’t factored in Walker’s pace, and while the Manchester City defender’s cut-back took a couple of deflections, the ball dropped invitingly for Kane.

England’s skipper was criticised after only touching the ball on two occasions in the whole of the first half against Serbia, but he wasn’t going to pass up this kind of opportunity, and sure enough, he calmly slotted home from the edge of the six-yard box.

So far, so promising. But England are never more vulnerable than when they have taken the lead, and sure enough, over the course of the next quarter-of-an hour, Southgate’s players dropped deeper and deeper, Denmark’s midfielders began to dominate possession, and an equaliser began to feel inevitable.

It might have arrived just after the half-hour mark had Marc Guehi not produced a perfectly-timed last-ditch challenge to deflect Jonas Wind’s shot over the crossbar, but with the red tidal-wave continuing to sweep towards the England goal, parity was restored 11 minutes before the interval.

It was a sloppy goal for England to concede, with the move starting from their own throw-in. Kane conceded possession to Kristiansen, he shuffled the ball infield, and from 30 yards, Hjulmand found the bottom left-hand corner via the inside of the post. Jordan Pickford appeared to have been unsighted by the players in front of him, and should perhaps have got closer to the ball, but the quality of Hjulmand’s strike was undeniable.

Pickford had to deal with another long-range strike before the break, saving from Tottenham’s Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, and while Foden shot straight at Kasper Schmeichel at the other end after slaloming down the middle of the pitch, the game had developed a familiar feel.

England’s midfield wasn’t functioning effectively – for the second game in row, Trent Alexander-Arnold felt like a square peg in a round hole as he repeatedly gave the ball away – but Southgate stuck steadfastly to his guns, refusing to make a half-time alteration.

When Alexander-Arnold conceded possession cheaply again at the start of the second half, his time was finally up, although the introduction of Conor Gallagher in his place felt like another somewhat conservative move. Yes, Adam Wharton is untried. But is there any point in taking the Crystal Palace midfielder to Germany if you’re not going to use him?

At least Foden was showing signs of life in a much-improved display from the weekend, and while he might not quite be ‘on fire’, despite the song that has been ringing around Germany on repeat in the last week, he came within an inch or two of restoring England’s lead just before the hour mark.

Drifting infield from his position on the left, which definitely doesn’t play to his strengths, Foden drilled a 25-yard effort against the base of the right-hand post. A couple of minutes later, with England starting to get some joy on the break, Bukayo Saka fired over after dribbling his way into the box.

It was still all very disjointed though, with passes going astray and a sense of panic appearing to set in. Declan Rice blamed the admittedly-dreadful state of the pitch when he put the ball out for a corner midway through the second half, but the incident was indicative of England’s general unease.