England ‘struggling with and without the ball’, admits Harry Kane

Victory in the Group C clash in Frankfurt would have assured England of top spot and progression to the last 16 with a game to spare.

Instead, despite Kane putting Gareth Southgate’s side ahead, they were pegged back to 1-1 through a fine Morten Hjulmand strike and then were largely second best.

A large number of England fans inside the Deutsche Bank Arena greeted the full-time whistle with jeers, while the team’s performance in the 1-0 win over Serbia in their opening game also drew criticism.

Despite being in a good position to win Group C, captain Kane conceded the side have fallen short in Germany so far.

“I think we’re struggling both with and without the ball,” Kane, who was replaced by Ollie Watkins in the second half, told BBC One.

“I think the pressure in both games hasn’t been right and with the ball hasn’t been good enough. Everyone’s dropping below their levels a little bit.

“It was tough out there, but we’re calm. It wasn’t our greatest game, but we got away with a point.”

England have still never won their opening two games at a European Championship and the result against Denmark could see parallels drawn with the goalless Wembley stalemate against Scotland at the same stage in 2021.

Southgate’s side went on to reach the final of Euro 2020 and Kane insists grinding out results shows the team have grit.

“I think we said before the tournament there’s no easy games and I think that’s showing,” he added.

“We’ve got levels we can reach and we can be better both with and without the ball. I think the sign of a good team is when you’re not playing at your best and still find a way to get results like we have in the last two games.

“We’re top of the group. We know we can improve. Step by step, we’ll get there.”

“I know there will probably loads of noise and a bit of disappointment back home, but we experienced this in the last Euros as well when we drew to Scotland.”