England return to action on Tuesday night with Slovenia the opponents just days after a hugely disappointing draw against Denmark.
England fans were expecting to go far at Euro 2024 but the Three Lions have endured an inauspicious start to the tournament.
The 1-0 victory over Serbia wasn’t exactly convincing and England were poor in the 1-1 draw with Denmark last week.
England players have come in for major criticism in recent days and must now block out the noise to come up with a performance against Slovenia.
The lack of energy in the opening two games has been a major concern whilst England have been looking disjointed in midfield.
Experimenting with Trent Alexander-Arnold in midfield just hasn’t worked out and it looks like Conor Gallagher will come into the team to face Slovenia.
Jamie Carragher on Tottenham Hotspur’s Pierre-Emile Hobjerg
England just haven’t been able to gain any kind of control in midfield with Alexander-Arnold’s position change not really working out.
The gaps Denmark were able to exploit were incredibly worrying and Jamie Carragher has been left concerned.
Speaking on Sky Sports News (25/06, 2:10pm), Carragher highlighted that England have really struggled in midfield against Serbia and Denmark – two teams he doesn’t see as major threats in this tournament.
Carragher was particularly concerned that Tottenham Hotspur’s Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg ‘ran the game’ for Denmark against England.
The former Liverpool defender wasn’t being disrespectful to Hojbjerg but noted that he is ‘just a good Premier League midfield player’ rather than a truly elite player that could dominate England.
Carragher feels that Hojbjerg playing so well against England ‘can’t be right’ and really wants to see Gallagher aid the pressing game.
“We’ve played Serbia and Denmark, two teams who have got absolutely no chance of winning this tournament or probably going far, but they’ve had midfield players, certainly Denmark in Hojbjerg, who’s just a good Premier League midfield player, he ran the game – he was the best midfield player on the pitch against England. That can’t be right,” said Carragher.
“That’s because the press is not right, there is too much space given to the opposition, so that is the reason why Conor Gallagher has come in, because England have to sort out their pressing game. If they don’t get that right, they’ve got absolutely no chance,” he added.
Hojbjerg future remains unclear
Tottenham will be pleased to see Hojbjerg playing well at Euro 2024, but not necessarily with a view to him taking that form into Ange Postecoglou’s side.
Spurs may actually want to offload Hojbjerg and use his international form to spark a sale this summer.
The Dane is out of contract in 2025 and the time may have come for him to move one after a lack of Premier League starts this past season.
Hojbjerg certainly won’t want to go from a starring for for Denmark to sitting on the Tottenham bench next term.
The £15million signing from Southampton in 2020 is showing his quality and managers out tehre will surely have taken notice.
A departure makes sense for all and Hojbjerg’s performances in Germany this summer may just generate some fresh interest this summer.
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