Alan Shearer slams England tactics with perfect Arsenal comparison after dire Denmark draw

Alan Shearer has slammed England's performance against Denmark and questioned the tactics around Declan Rice's role in the team.

Thursday night saw the Three Lions held to a 1-1 draw with Denmark in their Euro 2024 Group C contest in Germany. Harry Kane had opened the scoring, but the former Tottenham Hotspur star's goal was cancelled out by a strike from Denmark's Morten Hjulmand.

England now have just one final group game in the tournament which comes against Slovenia next Tuesday. Qualification for the last-16 is almost secured, but concerns emerged around the tactics employed by Three Lions boss Gareth Southgate.

Shearer was critical of the tactics used by England during the draw with Denmark. The former striker used Rice's role in the Arsenal team under Mikel Arteta as a comparison to the midfielder's impact for England so far at Euro 2024.

"Let's use John Stones as an example," Shearer told BBC Sport during his post-match analysis. "How many times do you see him get the ball and run into midfield, or get the ball with his back and turn in the Man City team? So many times. He's brilliant at it.

"How many times have you seen him do it in the last two England games? I can't remember any.

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"How many times do you see Declan Rice getting that ball and bursting forward? How many times have you seen him do it in an England shirt in the last two games? None.

"How many times do you see Phil Foden get on the ball in the middle of the park, turn? Maybe once tonight when he had the shot and hit the post. So Gareth at the minute is not getting the best out of England's best players."

Shearer was also displeased with the general performance of England in the draw with Denmark. The former Newcastle striker went on to explain why he believes there will be concerns going forward for Southgate and Co.

"It was very poor, it wasn't good enough," said Shearer.

"We've all been there as players, and yes you do try and take the positives, and yes it is tournament football. But it's our job and the coaches' jobs to dissect what went wrong, and there's plenty to look at there.

"Where do you start? No energy, no guile, I wouldn't say a lack of effort or not trying, but there's so much more to come from those players.

"I look at Jude [Bellinghaam] tonight, he couldn't put one foot in front of the other. He couldn't get forward.

"I look at Phil Foden on the left - is he affecting the game? No chance. I look at [Bukayo] Saka and Harry Kane, I know he [Kane] got his goal and I mentioned it on commentary about running in behind. At least when [Ollie] Watkins came on the defenders were running in behind. It was really poor and it is concerning, absolutely."