England far from wonderful in Copenhagen but Leeds United star Kalvin Phillips rewarded with debut

England ended the most challenging international camp of Gareth Southgate’s reign with another forgettable display as their Nations League trip to Denmark finished goalless.
Denmark's Christian Eriksen (bottom) and England's Kalvin Phillips battle for the ball.Denmark's Christian Eriksen (bottom) and England's Kalvin Phillips battle for the ball.
Denmark's Christian Eriksen (bottom) and England's Kalvin Phillips battle for the ball.

As if the coronavirus measures, fitness concerns and Harry Maguire’s withdrawal were not enough for the Three Lions boss to contend with, Southgate sent Mason Greenwood and Phil Foden home on the eve of the Copenhagen clash after breaching the bio bubble.

Southgate certainly has plenty to mull over after their first international break in 10 months, with England failing to score from open play in either of their matches as Tuesday’s encounter in Denmark ended in a 0-0 draw.

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Three days on from Raheem Sterling’s penalty sealing an unconvincing win in Iceland, the Three Lions again frustrated with the attackers isolated and midfield lacking creativity in front of a three-man backline featuring debutant Conor Coady.

Leeds United’s Kalvin Phillips – the first Whites player to win an England cap since Alan Smith in March 2004 – was the other new boy in the starting line-up against Denmark, who looked the bigger first-half threat and went closest through a Kasper Dolberg strike that forced Jordan Pickford into action.

The match continued in a similar vein until Southgate brought on Mason Mount and debutant Jack Grealish, but there was not enough time – or perhaps energy left in their team-mates’ legs – to eke out victory against Kasper Hjulmand’s Danes.

Ainsley Maitland-Niles became England’s fourth debutant of the evening – and sixth across these two matches – before Harry Kane saw a stoppage-time winner denied by Mathias Jorgensen’s goal-line clearance.

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Coady hailed his England debut as “a dream come true”, but admitted he was disappointed to have to settle for a draw with Denmark.

The former Sheffield United defender looked assured on his first appearance for the senior side in the goalless draw in Copenhagen.

When asked by Sky Sports how proud he was of his debut, Wolves defender Coady said: “Immensely, it is a dream come true. I said how much it means to me. There are some world-class players in this team, don’t let anybody else tell you differently.

“It is 0-0, a clean sheet, we are happy with that, but disappointed we didn’t come away with three points.

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“I’m 27, I’m here to help England, these players and the team – that is the main goal, I don’t care about my own performance as long as we win.

Phillips was the first Leeds player to win an England cap since Alan Smith in March 2004.

Southgate said he had “learned a lot” from the match.

He added: “We tried a new system which we will get better at given everything we have had to deal with – 10 pull-outs for various reasons.

“So we felt we wanted to start with stability – we could have probably been a bit higher with attacking threat in the first half, but we were in control and, given the stage of the season the players are at, that was really important.”

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