Former England manager Sam Allardyce picked two potential reasons why the country struggled against Serbia on Sunday.
While Gareth Southgate’s men earned a 1-0 victory courtesy of Jude Bellingham’s 13th-minute header, the team started to fall back and invite pressure as the match went on.
A number of players were far from at their best, with Phil Foden noticeably below the standards he achieves at Manchester City.
Speaking on the No Tippy Tappy Football podcast, Allardyce wondered if Southgate was not allowing the players the necessary freedom, or that the players were simply overwhelmed by pressure.
He said: “There are so many goals in this England squad.
“But they don’t seem to be able to let themselves go. They don’t have the freedom to express themselves and be as good as they are at club level. It may not even be Gareth Southgate’s fault, they may just feel the pressure of playing for England.
“I think Gareth loves having two sitting midfielders and he’ll continue to play that way. But for me, they’ve got to go and express themselves and show what they’re capable of against Denmark. With the talent they’ve got, they can’t have a negative second-half performance like they did against Serbia.”
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