Opening draw with Slovenia has put Euro 2020 semi-finalists, and manager Kasper Hjulmand, under pressure
on Sunday was how familiar it all felt. A side highly reliant on one outstanding creator taking the lead in a first half they controlled and then unexpectedly losing their way against physical opponents in the second half, leading to a great gnashing of teeth about what had gone wrong and why things weren’t as good as they had been at the last Euros. But for the fact that Slovenia scored an equaliser and Serbia didn’t, Denmark’s start was very similar to England’s.
The post-match press conference took on a weird dynamic: gentle lobs from foreigners about how brilliant it must be not to have, you know, briefly died this time, interspersed with forensic Danish grumbles about why the substitutions had been so delayed. At the last Euros the manager, Kasper Hjulmand, emerged as a vaguely heroic figure, impressively composed in the most trying of circumstances. Perhaps, in retrospect, he should have refused to complete the game against Finland after Eriksen’s collapse, but even thoughended up losing that match and their subsequent fixture, against Belgium, they rallied and beat Russia 4-1 to reach the knockouts.in extra time in the semi-final.
Thomas Gravesen, as uncompromising as a pundit as he was as a midfielder, was critical of Hjulmand for not being more “visible” on the touchline, but given he was praised for his calmness three years ago, it seems a little unfair to condemn him for that now. The criticism, though, seems to be weighing on him; the statesman of three years ago has been replaced by a beleaguered figure.The bigger issue is the lack of structure.
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