HOW ROY Harry Kane isn’t the problem. We need more zip in midfield... not Roo’s 35-yard sideways passes

MOST England fans seem to think Roy Hodgson should drop Harry Kane for Slovakia tomorrow.

After all, he looked sluggish against Russia and Wales, while Jamie Vardy and Daniel Sturridge came off the bench and delivered to ensure the boys of St George slayed the Dragons.

But I’m adamant over the course of the past two seasons the Tottenham man has earned the right to be England’s first-choice centre-forward and I hope he is given another chance.

Don’t get me wrong, he is hanging on to his place by a thread and he hasn’t been great at this tournament, nor was he against Portugal in the final warm-up. But as long as he hasn’t got a knock or a niggle I’d tell him to go out and give me 45 minutes in the final group game then change things up at half time if it still wasn’t working.

Raheem Sterling does need taking out of the firing line as much for his own good as England’s, but the clamour for Kane to go too is misguided.

If we brought in Sturridge and Vardy to replace those two, or Marcus Rashford, we’d be playing with a completely new forward line and that wouldn’t be ideal for two reasons.

Firstly, because we wouldn’t have had much time to work with it in training and, secondly, you need a focal point who is half decent in the air, good at holding up the ball and who can occupy central defenders.

Kane still does that job. And should we start with Vardy and Sturridge, I would worry about what we have got off the bench if we are struggling after 65 minutes.

Vardy, Sturridge and Rashford have pace and can hurt defences later on.

So instead of worrying about them I’d be asking this: ‘Did Wayne Rooney go backwards or forwards more against Wales and did Dele Alli look as good as he did against Russia?’

The answer, both times, would be