England v Denmark - Gareth Southgate and Harry Kane admit more needed from Three Lions at Euro 2024

Morten Hjulmand’s thumping strike cancelled out Harry Kane’s first group-stage goal since 2018 as England fumbled their chance at early progress in Frankfurt.

It leaves them top of Group C ahead of Tuesday’s final game against Slovenia, in which they will need a point to ensure progression to the knockout stage.

But there is much work to be done if England are to entertain any notion of going deep in the competition and end their wait for a major trophy for the first time since winning the World Cup on home soil in 1966.

Afterwards, Southgate agreed that performances needed to improve quickly for his team.

“Of course there’s a huge amount of work, that’s evident from the two performances that we’ve given,” admitted Southgate. “But we have to stay tight. We understand that people will be disappointed with the performances and rightly so, and we’ve got to make them better.”

“At the moment, we’re not using the ball well enough and we have to accept that if you do that, you’re going to suffer at times like we have tonight, so we know there’s another level we have to find.”

Southgate, who denied asking his players to sit deep after scoring, also admitted his “experiment” of playing Trent Alexander-Arnold in midfield has been only partially successful to date.

He added: “Look, he’s had some moments where he’s delivered what we thought he would. It is an experiment and we know that we don’t have a natural replacement for a Kalvin Phillips, but we’re trying some different things and at the moment, we’re not flowing as we would like, that’s for sure.”

Goalscorer and captain Kane, one of three oplayers substituted in a bold move by Southgate just after the hour mark, promised England would rediscover their form.

“We’ve got levels that we can reach and we can be better both with the ball and without the ball, there’s no question,” said Kane. “But I think the sign of a good team is when you’re not playing at your best and you still find a way to get results, like we have done in the last two games.

“We’re top of the group, we’re all-but qualified, which is what I said in the press conference before is that’s the No 1 objective and yes, we know we can improve.

“I know there will probably be loads of noise and a bit of disappointment back home, but we experienced this in the last Euros as well when we drew with Scotland. It’s a time to stay calm, a time to reflect and try to improve for sure, but step-by-step, we’ll get there.”