Gareth Southgate points finger of blame after England's dire draw with Denmark

Gareth Southgate told the nation to blame him after his England players were jeered by the fans following another insipid Euro display.

The Three Lions remain two points clear at the top of Group C, but they were lucky to escape with a draw after being outplayed and outfought by a Danish team that were disappointed that they couldn't force a famous win. Harry Kane gave England a dream start when he fired home in the 18th minute. It was Kane's 13th tournament goal - a record for an Englishman.

But the captain was at fault in the 39th minute when his poor clearance led to Morten Hjulmand blasting Denmark level from 30 yards. Southgate admitted: “The team didn’t function today - and that’s my responsibility. I’m in control and I have to find solutions.

“The players are giving everything. If anything, they care too much. We can’t make excuses. We have to accept responsibility. We didn’t pass the ball with any intensity and we conceded possession too easily.

“That led to an anxious performance and we have to be better if we want to progress to the latter stages, like everyone is expecting. Our press wasn’t intense enough and that gave us a problem. We have got to find a way of being more compact than we have in the last three halves of football.

“These boys aren’t lacking effort but we need to find more quality. We are disappointed with the performance levels in the first two games and now we’ve got to analyse them in depth and address the issues we have.”

Southgate substituted Trent Alexander-Arnold and attacking trio Kane, Phil Foden and Bukayo Saka in a bid to turn the tide of the game. More than 20,000 England fans were in the Frankfurt Arena - and they made their anger clear towards the end of the game.

England manager Gareth Southgate (L) and Harry Kane of England (R) in the technical area

After walking across the pitch to thank the Three Lions support for their backing, Southgate suggested the tournament favourites are struggling to cope with expectation levels. He said: “We need the fans and I will always face them. I have to say they've been brilliant in the stadiums and I can completely understand their frustration with the way that we played.

“We have to accept the environment that we're in and the expectations that are around us - and we have to walk towards that challenge. To achieve extraordinary things, you have to go through some difficult moments. Today was a difficult moment without a doubt, towards the end of the game especially.

“We understand what that will mean for the next few days, but we have to stay calm inside the group and find good solutions to improve it.” Danish coach Kasper Hjulmand said: “I can’t say we are disappointed but it’s a shame because there was a result out there that we could have got."

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