Kane reaping rewards of working with Scots coach
ENGLAND boss Gareth Southgate insists Scot Allan Russell was the right choice to fine-tune Harry Kane ahead of the striker captaining his side at Hampden tonight.
Russell, who numbers Airdrie, Hamilton and Kilmarnock among his former clubs, was drafted in to help put the English forwards through their paces earlier this week.
Eyebrows have been raised at the idea of recruiting someone from north of the border to aid players of Kane’s class ahead of a World Cup qualifier in Glasgow.
However, Southgate is adamant that the 36-year-old, who bills himself as ‘the world’s No1 specific striker coach’ on his website, added value to their preparations.
Kane will now lead England’s attack and the team after being selected to wear the skipper’s armband following Wayne Rooney’s omission from the squad.
The Spurs star has already declared his desire to grab a hat-trick tonight as he pursues his first international goal in 13 months.
Asked what Russell had taught his strikers, Southgate replied: ‘Detail. When you’re looking for coaching, there are different types.
‘Very often, once you go through academy level, the focus goes on preparing a team.
‘We’ve advertised for this role and there are very few people who actually work at this level of detail: looking where goals come from, at techniques, “have you thought about this?”.
‘With more senior players that tends not to happen because you’re going from game to game. But he (Russell) focuses specifically on technique.
‘He’s done that with some of our other teams as well. It’s an investment in individuals. I liked that as a player. We used to go out on a Thursday every week just to work on defending.’
Kane finished as top scorer in the English Premier League by scoring seven times in his final two outings to raise his tally to 29 goals.
Injury has prevented him from featuring under Southgate, with his last cap coming in the Group F opener against Slovakia.
Rooney’s loss of form has created a vacancy for captain and, while not yet confirming a permanent appointment, Southgate sees Kane as the ideal choice against Scotland.
‘I’ve spoken before about developing more leaders in the group,’ he said. ‘That’s been key and was evident this week with the different things we’ve done.
‘Harry’s not been with us up to this point. His mentality is excellent. He’s keen to lead.
‘I’ve worked with him at the Under-21s and I know his mentality. He wants to be one of the best in the world.
‘His goals record over the last three seasons speaks for itself. When we worked at Under-21s, his finishing was clear.
‘You saw finishing in the past from the likes of (Robbie) Fowler, (Paul) Scholes, (Alan) Shearer. With Harry, you could see that level of finishing from the first day.’
Southgate took his squad to the Royal Marines Commando Training base in Devon last week and feels the experience was hugely beneficial.
He said: ‘We went to Devon to get the group together in a different environment so they could get to know each other better.
‘It was good to test their leadership skills and their togetherness as a group. There were so many outcomes and it was so much better than I could have hoped for.’