End this farce and let Kane keep hold of the armband
HARRY KANE will be captain of the England team tonight but the time has come to give it to him permanently. So far, coach Gareth Southgate has rotated the armband between a few players, apparently to encourage more leaders in the squad to develop.
I like Gareth a lot but the problem with handing the captaincy around is it becomes a bit farcical.
It’s about perception. If you keep having a different captain, you look like a coach and a team who don’t really know where they’re going.
I get the argument that all the players can be captain, that they should all be contributing and helping, like any good team.
But this is England, we are a big football nation, we have one of the best strikers, if not the best, in the world and this is putting Kane on a pedestal and saying this is our man.
It would be different if there was a concern it could affect him. But it’s not going to happen with him, there is just no way. If anything, he will do even more.
Kane won’t struggle with wearing the armband. Gareth will know that he will continue to work just as hard and play as well. He will score just as many goals Slovenia will find it hard
to stop Harry Kane tonight and he is to score at least twice. (odds subject
to change)
as if he didn’t have it. Kane is never going to be able to organise people in the back three or in midfield because he cannot, he’s got a job to do up top.
But the way he conducts himself, the way he plays his football, his attitude and dedication, his humbleness and ruthlessness, are all qualities that everybody aspires to.
It’s the international team — you need someone who the lads can go to, that they can look up to a little bit, to think “He’s our man”. There are times when you need to speak to somebody. What will happen if you’re new to the set-up and want to raise something? You need a captain.
That doesn’t mean that if you’re not captain, you can’t lead. Gary Cahill has really grown into a leadership role since replacing John Terry at Chelsea and at international level, too.
He is always trying to encourage people and organise, get people around him doing more. He is not going to change that just because he hasn’t got the armband.
Jordan Henderson has got much better at that, too. He won’t stop helping, either.
I’m in the camp that if you have someone as special as Kane and you know he is going to play, then who better?
I’m sure if you got every England player in the room to write down who should be captain, he would lead by a mile — and that says it all.
I don’t expect Slovenia to give Eng- land any problems this evening and we will secure qualification to the World Cup Finals.
If we worry about any of their players, we have issues. As an England player, you’re playing Slovenia, desperate to win and qualify for the World Cup.
All you should be thinking about is going out there and showing why we are better — to play at a good tempo, the same attitude as when you’re at your club, playing in the cup against a lesser side.
Hopefully, Marcus Rashford will be in the side on the left and England give him the ball as much as possible.
He has that electric pace and skill to get past people and score a goal — that’s what makes him such a good forward.
Other parts of his game impress, too. He has a good ethic to win the ball back if he loses it and he is also strong enough to hold it up. Rashford never stops, he is constantly running, pressing and trying to make things happen. His natural ability will always make things happen in the final third.
He has that wow factor, that something you cannot teach. When he is one-on-one against someone, you really fancy him to beat whoever he is up against.
It looks like Raheem Sterling will play as a No10 in place of the suspended Dele Alli. I’m not sure that position suits him.
He is not particularly clever playing in tight spaces, playing give-and-go football. He is more dynamic, playing counter-attack on bigger pitches where he can use his pace.
If you’re playing international football against packed defences it becomes harder for someone like Sterling.
The result is the most important thing tonight but it would be a good to book our place in Russia with a performance, too.