Calling for England to drop Harry Kane is ABSURD… he will come good at Euro 2024, he always does

06/23/2024 03:00 PM

NO manager in the world will really care about how many touches their centre-forward has.

It's being widely flagged up that Harry Kane has not seen much of the ball in England's first two matches but this is not, in itself, going to be a concern for Gareth Southgate.

It's a nice thing for the stats fanatics to go on about — and there are obviously more and more of them in and around football.

But not all statistics are helpful and this one doesn't mean a great deal.

In England's opening game against Serbia, Harry had just 24 touches of the ball and one effort on goal, a header which was brilliantly saved.

And his only touch inside the Denmark box in Thursday's 1-1 draw was the shot which gave England an early lead.

But this is part of a centre-forward's life.

There will be games when you are hardly involved and score twice.

There will be other games when you are on the ball far more but don't find the net.

As long as my team won, I'd always rather score goals and be involved less.

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I think all strikers would say the same.

As a striker, you live for goals because goals give you energy and confidence going forward.

You live with that and it's sometimes down to the opponent and how much attention they pay to you.

If they sacrifice two players to keep you quiet then you don't get many touches and you'll be going back to the halfway line just to get a touch.

But Harry has scored one goal and so nearly two in two games. It's not as if he hasn't been involved at all.

What matters to a manager on the touchline is his feeling for a player, his knowledge of that player and whether he feels he is connected to the team.

If you feel Harry is connected, that he is with the team, even if he only gets a few touches, that is what's important.

A centre-forward can have 60, 70 or 80 touches, just playing short square balls left or right, without being properly connected.

What matters is the overall dynamic and that the moves you are involved in are decisive ones.

England will always look for Harry, he will always have chances to score.

Everybody in England needs to calm down a little about the captain.

Some are even suggesting that he should be dropped or rested for tomorrow's final group game against Slovenia — but that is totally absurd.

If Southgate did that, he'd risk the entire chemistry of his team.

I was surprised by the strength of criticism about England's performance. It was disappointing but maybe expectations have got a bit too high

You don't want to mess with your star players during a tournament.

Harry is a leader and also a giver who can contribute hugely to the overall team performance — if he's out of the team it will give the opposition so much confidence.

Since he joined Bayern Munich last summer, people throughout Germany cannot believe how much he does for the team.

Jamal Musiala, who has started this tournament so well for Germany, has really benefited from that more than most at Bayern.

That intense workrate is what they adore and admire about him in Germany, they have never seen a No 9 doing so much work for the team and still scoring all these goals — 44 in his first season at the club.

Sure, Harry is not at his peak level right now.

He had a back injury at the end of the season and he is working his way back to his sharpest form.

I don't think it's a big deal that he was subbed after 70 minutes against Denmark — my only concern with that was, 'What if a penalty comes up?' because Harry is 99 per cent likely to score from the spot.

No player is ever at the top of his game for seven matches in a month-long tournament. Everyone has off days.

But the longer you're in the tournament, the more things will connect and fall into place.

Overall, I was surprised by the strength of criticism about England's performance against Denmark.

Sure, it was disappointing but maybe expectations have got a bit too high and people were expecting three convincing wins in the group stage — which doesn't necessarily do you any good in the long term.

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It's all part of the normal ups and downs going through a tournament

A tournament is made up of two chapters.

First, the group stage, where you just have to figure out a way to get through — and England will get through.

Then the next chapter, the knockouts. Everything that happens in the group stage which is a bit rocky prepares you for the rollercoaster of the knockout stage.

During a tournament teams develop their own character and spirit. England still have it in their own hands, they are the drivers of their own destiny.

There is very little time to look back during a tournament, analysing what's happened in the last game can give you a few clues but the only real focus can be on preparing for the next match.

It was fine that England experimented with Trent Alexander-Arnold in midfield but it doesn't seem to work — and you don't want to be experimenting in the knockouts.

Southgate's biggest problem is finding a solution at left-back, with Luke Shaw struggling to be fit.

That is tricky and it seems strange England don't have another left-back in their 26-man squad.

But as for the captain, please stop worrying. He will come good. He always does.