SERVE THEM UP
Kane vows to deliver goals if England find a spark of creativity
FOR the 23 young Englishmen here in Chantilly who would very much like to remain in Europe, some facts are indisputable. It occurred to Harry Kane yesterday that in 149 minutes of football at this tournament he has not been presented with a single decent chance. Nothing from his teammates that he feels he should have converted.
Strikers complaining about a lack of opportunities is not uncommon in France but Kane has a legitimate grievance when his failure to score in these opening two Group B encounters not only saw him hooked against Wales at half-time but cost him his place for the third game against Slovakia.
In fairness to Kane, he had no intention of blaming his colleagues. But when asked if he could recall a proper goalscoring chance he could only be honest.
‘Probably not,’ he said. ‘There’s not been a clear chance where I’d say, “I’m disappointed I missed that”. I’m not coming away from games saying, “Wish I’d scored that one — that was an easy chance”. You just have to be ready for when that chance comes. And I’m someone who will definitely be ready.’
England have lacked a cutting edge so far at Euro 2016, and while that might have come as something of a surprise given the presence of five strikers in Roy Hodgson’s squad, the issue has been more about the quality of service than finishing. ‘When teams are dropping off it’s difficult, especially as a striker,’ explained Kane. ‘You always have two centre halves behind you and maybe a sitting midfielder as well. It’s a bit more difficult creating chances.
‘But we can do better as a team in the final third as a whole. Crosses better, final passes better, slipping players through. We can get a bit better at that and, if we do, it will be all right.’
In open training on Thursday the focus of Hodgson’s session was on service for the strikers, even if observers were struck by a lack of sophistication beyond overlapping full backs and crosses from out wide.
As Hodgson barked at one stage: ‘Let’s get a decent **** ing cross.’
Forwards of Kane’s ilk thrive on decent crosses and focusing more on that aspect of England’s game might be why Hodgson appears ready to reinstate him to the starting line-up for Monday’s last-16 match with Iceland.
Kane did look sharp in that same training session — certainly more so than he did in those group games.
While he was on the pitch for just 14 minutes against Slovakia, he looked slow and ponderous against Russia and Wales. The result, perhaps, of so much football.
If he does indeed play against Iceland in Nice it will be his 120th game in just two seasons, and that is an awful lot of football for a 22-year-old. Yesterday, however, he insisted he was not suffering from fatigue.
‘I don’t think burn-out is a worry,’ he said. ‘I think to progress in major tournaments and to be at your best you need a big squad and you need to rotate it.
‘The gaffer made his choice in that game and we all stick by it. He chose to change a few players but that’s tournament football.
‘I want to play every game, as does every player. But sometimes you just have to listen to the manager.
‘When you have Jamie Vardy up front and Daniel Sturridge on the other side, there’s competition for places. We spoke about that before the tournament. That’s what you need. All I can do is my best for the team, whether that’s from the bench or if I start.’
Of course, Hodgson’s decision to appoint Kane as his corner-taker prior to the start of the tournament did not enhance his chances of scoring that elusive first tournament goal. Kane provided some insight into how Hodgson arrived at a decision he had reversed by the second game. ‘It was something we tried when we first met up for the Turkey game,’ he said. ‘At the time we had a lot of tall players in the team and they saw the delivery I had and wanted me to put it in the box. We did it then and it stuck.
‘I’ll listen to the manager. If he wants me to do something, I’ll do it. The manager wanted me to take them so I took them.’ They essentially had a trial. ‘There were a few players taking them,’ he said. ‘We always practise set-pieces. Nothing was really said until immediately before the game when it was up on the board about who was taking what. I was happy to do it. I think it’s been blown out of proportion a bit.’
However, it made no sense whatsoever. Now, though, Kane is interested only in re-establishing himself in a side that is shaping up to be close to how England started Euro 2016 — just one probable change that would see Sturridge replacing Raheem Sterling and Vardy back on the bench. That, at least, is how things have looked thus far since the Slovakia game.
‘I want to do the best I can,’ added Kane. ‘I want to score goals, I want to win football matches. Hopefully, if called upon on Monday, I can do that, get on the scoresheet and win the game.’ @Matt_Lawton_DM EURO 2016