Alan Shearer says what all Newcastle United fans are thinking in brilliant rant after '62-goal' snub

Harry Kane gave England the lead in the 18th minute before a long-distance strike from Morten Hjulmand drew Denmark level before half-time. Gareth Southgate’s side struggled to take advantage of their early lead for a second successive match as Denmark looked the more likely side to go on and win.

Southgate took Kane off to add some energy to England’s performance with Ollie Watkins replacing the captain. Jarrod Bowen and Eberechi Eze also came on for Bukayo Saka and Phil Foden respectively Cole Palmer and Anthony Gordon remained on the bench.

Palmer (22 goals, 13 assists) and Gordon (11 goals, 16 assists) had 62 Premier League goal contributions between them during the 2023-24 campaign but have yet to play a minute in England’s opening two group games. The pair also helped England win the Under-21s European Championships last summer.

Many Newcastle supporters took to social media during and after the match, perplexed at Gordon’s lack of involvement in the tournament so far.

And it was a message relayed by club legend Shearer in a constructive critique of England’s attack.

Reflecting on his own career at Newcastle, Shearer said on BBC: “When I got into my 30s and I’d lost a yard of pace, I needed legs around me, I needed pace around me.

“I could still hold the ball up, I could still head it, I had a good touch, I could still score goals but the one thing I constantly couldn’t do is run in behind.

"Harry Kane is the same now, he needs players in and around him that do that. That's why I would have Anthony Gordon in the team because he has the energy and the ability to run in behind and get up near [Kane].

“When Foden is doing that, he wants to be tight and be in the 10 role very much like Harry Kane does. He’s a brilliant goalscorer, he’ll always score goals but he lacks that yard and he lacks that energy, someone else can do it alongside him.”

England’s draw keeps them top of the group and effectively guarantees progress to the last-16. But the level of performance was a big talking point after the match.

Shearer added: “You can see players lying on their backs – they look absolutely shattered, the England players. There’s no excuse for that.

“There was no energy, no pace to the game. We didn’t run in behind until the last 10 or 15 minutes, we got caught too many times on the ball, too many sloppy passes and in truth, Denmark were the better team and deserved to win.

“It was very poor, it wasn’t good enough. I wouldn’t say lack of effort, not trying, but there’s so much more to come from those players.”