England held by Denmark in turgid Nations League draw

England endured a night of frustration as they were held to a 0-0 draw in a turgid Nations League clash in Denmark.

The Three Lions struggled to carve out opportunities throughout but almost stole it at the death when Harry Kane had a shot cleared off the line.

The hosts had the better of the openings overall and should have gone ahead nine minutes from the end but Christian Eriksen blazed a great chance over the top.

Following the media storm over Mason Greenwood and Phil Foden's off-field antics, Gareth Southgate made three changes from the unconvincing win over Iceland. There were debuts from the start for Kalvin Phillips and Conor Coady, with the latter featuring in a back three as the visitors switched system.

However, England lacked creativity for long spells and not even the introduction of more flair in the shape of Mason Mount and another debutant, Jack Grealish could spark a belated surge to pinch another victory.

The focus will now turn to the upcoming club season as the Premier League returns this weekend. England are next in Nations League action on October 11 when they entertain Belgium at Wembley. Denmark visit Iceland.

Southgate has some problems to address on the pitch, as well as off it. It's not been the greatest couple of weeks for the England manager. He's had to deal with the issue involving Harry Maguire and then the antics of Mason Greenwood and Phil Foden after a very narrow and fortunate win over Iceland. This draw isn't the end of the world by any means, but the team's overall showing in the Nations League double header leaves much room for improvement. Granted, there remains a pre-season feel about the matches and he did blood four players here, but Southgate will demand much more when his troops return in October as they bid to recapture the verve that saw them score so regularly during the Euro qualifiers.

Conor Coady (England). Helped organise the defence in the central role as a highly vocal presence. Hit some excellent, long passes to the flanks and will feel he gave a good account of himself as he played a significant part in claiming a clean sheet on his senior debut.

DENMARK: Schmeichel 7, Wass 7, Jorgensen 7, Christensen 7, Skov 7, Norgaard 7, Eriksen 7, Delaney 7, Poulsen 6, Dolberg 7, Braithwaite 7. Subs: Hojbjerg 6. Falk 6, Kjaier n/a.

ENGLAND: Pickford 7, Alexander-Arnold 7, Gomez 7, Coady 7, Dier 6, Trippier 6, Phillips 6, Rice 6, Sterling 7, Sancho 5, Kane 5. Subs: Mount 6, Grealish 6, Maitland-Niles n/a.

30' - DENMARK CHANCE! Wonderful foot work from Braithwaite. He takes down Coady's headed clearance, outfoxes Phillips and flashes a low drive just wide of the far post.

38' - DENMARK CHANCE! Pickford throws himself to his left to push away Dolberg's rasping strike after a lovely turn and pass from Eriksen.

69' - ENGLAND CHANCE! Kane rises to meet a left-wing cross at the far post, but can't quite direct his header on target.

81' - DENMARK CHANCE! Poulsen nods a deflected cross down for Eriksen who somehow blazes over the bar from 10 yards out.

90+4' - ENGLAND CHANCE! Kane gets on the end of a long ball and rounds Schmeichel, but sees his low shot cleared off the line by Jorgensen. That was as close as England have come by some distance.

This was England's sixth goalless draw in 43 matches under Gareth Southgate - as many as previous bosses Roy Hodgson and Sam Allardyce played out in 57 games in charge. The last England manager to oversee more 0-0s was Bobby Robson (17).

This is the first time the England men's team has named four debutants in a non-friendly match (Coady, Grealish, Maitland-Niles, Phillips) since October 1962 in a European Championship qualifier against Poland (Ray Charnley, Chris Crowe, Mike Hellawell, Alan Hinton).