Sven-Goran Eriksson branded England's second-half display in Copenhagen a 'disaster' after the nation's worst defeat in 25 years against Denmark tonight.
England's World Cup preparations suffered an embarrassing jolt as, after a goalless first half, they conceded three goals in six minutes on the way to a 4-1 loss.
David James and Glen Johnson, who were two of Eriksson's four half-time substitutions, were embarrassingly exposed as Denmark took charge.
While Wayne Rooney, who was England's only player to emerge with credit from the friendly, pulled a late goal back, substitute Soren Larsen then rounded off Denmark's victory.
It was the worst defeat of Eriksson's 54-game reign and the heaviest to hit an England side since Wales beat them by the same scoreline at Wrexham in 1980.
Most worryingly of all for the Swede is that he now only has two weeks to rectify the faults before England face Wales in their next World Cup qualifier before then taking on Northern Ireland.
He admitted: 'If we play football again like we did in the second half, we will not even qualify for the World Cup.
'I'm angry and disappointed because the second half was a disaster and nothing else. I'm sorry for the fans who had travelled here.
'I won't try to defend it, even if we changed four players at half-time. Even if we'd have changed 11, it still shouldn't have been like that.
'In the first half, we were very aggressive, worked hard for each other and helped each other out. We used the tactics we had prepared. In the second half, we were trying to play football for ourselves.
'Of course, I take responsibility. As England coach, you should expect that. It's my job to ensure that the team plays for 90 minutes. You can lose football games, but not in the way we lost the second half.'
Indeed, Eriksson admitted that he could 'understand completely' if the thousands of England fans in the stadium had been embarrassed by their team's display.
The failings of James, who lost his England place after a blunder in Austria, were painfully exposed again when he charged out of his area on 60 minutes and was caught out of position when Jon Dahl Tomasson crossed for Dennis Rommedahl to tap home.
Johnson then failed to stop Claus Jensen cutting back a dangerous cross and, even though Ashley Cole half-cleared the ball, it was headed back by Rommedahl for Tomasson to prod home from close range.
Substitute Michael Gravgaard headed a deflected third before Larsen rounded off the rout following Rooney's consolation effort as England received a stark wake-up call at the start of a World Cup season.
Eriksson, who took off Gary Neville, John Terry and Paul Robinson at the break, as well as Jermain Defoe, refused to single out James for blame, even though Robinson's position as England's first-choice keeper is now stronger than ever.
'You should not talk about individual mistakes but collective mistakes. The focus should be on the performance in the second half, not on one or two players,' insisted Eriksson.
'Normally, you talk about one or two players making little mistakes but tonight we did it as a team.'
Asked if he had lost his temper with his players, he added: 'I had to be very clear in what I said to them. If you lose your temper, you lose your brain as well sometimes.
'It was very important to tell the squad that the second half was a disaster and why. I've done that and I will do it again in two weeks' time.
'Hopefully it is impossible to play as badly as that again. Our morale and confidence can't be any better because of it. I promise that we can't play that badly again.'
Denmark coach Morten Olsen celebrated his team's victory but insisted that he still considered England as one of the favourites for next summer's World Cup.
'We played a very good game but qualifying matches are something else. I think England are still a world-class team with world-class players. Every team has such a day,' he said.
'Maybe it can be helpful to the England team. I think Sven-Goran Eriksson will use this game so his team will be ready for the Wales game.
'Results like this also depend on the other team and we played very well.'
Denmark, who lost to England at the 2002 World Cup, also won 3-2 in a friendly at Old Trafford in November 2003.
'Normally England are a very good team. It's a good performance to score four goals against them. We have now scored more goals against them than any other team in Europe - it's just a pity that they came in two friendlies!' concluded Olsen.
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