Gareth Southgate claims England lack replacement for Kalvin Phillips as midfield underwhelm again at Euro 2024

Gareth Southgate has claimed England do not have a replacement for Kalvin Phillips, as he admitted the midfield is “not flowing” at Euro 2024.

The Three Lions had the chance to seal top spot in Group C with a match to spare, but drew 1-1 with Denmark as they took the lead and then once again failed to kick on in a frustratingly underwhelming display.

Harry Kane’s opener was cancelled out by Morten Hjulmand’s strike from distance and England failed to respond, with Phil Foden’s second-half effort against the post a rare moment of danger for the Denmark defence.

There will be more questions over Trent Alexander-Arnold’s role in the side, after he was brought off inside ten minutes of the second-half to be replaced by Conor Gallagher for the second match in a row.

Southgate was quizzed on that decision after the match, when he suggested England are missing Phillips, who missed out on a place at the squad after a disastrous loan spell at West Ham.

“I wanted to get Conor on, we needed some energy and to press better,” Southgate said of the decision to bring Alexander-Arnold off.

“[Alexander-Arnold] had some moments where he’s delivered what we thought he would. We know it’s an experiment and we know that we don’t have a natural replacement for Kalvin Phillips.

“We’re trying some different things and at the moment we’re not flowing as we’d like, that’s for sure.”

England sit top of Group C heading into their final match against Slovenia, when they will expect to complete the job and top the group, avoiding what will likely be a last-16 clash with Germany for the runners-up.

There is pressure on the England boss to make changes though, both in personnel and tactics, after another match in which England scored early and then handed the initiative back to the opposition by dropping incredibly deep.

Asked if he was instructing England to sit back after taking the lead, Southgate responded: “No. We’ve played teams that are quite fluid in back threes and it’s not easy to get pressure on them.

“We’ve definitely got to do that better than we have done in these two matches. That’s been part of the problem, but not keeping the ball has also been a big part of the problem.”