‘Kane and Rice need cheerleaders not pundits – the BBC is not England Fan TV’
Harry Kane and Declan Rice want the pundits to be cheerleaders.
How dare they call out England‘s below-par performances so far at this Euros. Their reasoning? Because Gary Lineker, Alan Shearer and Co have also failed in a Three Lions shirt.
That may be true but at least those two players know about winning major silverware. Between Kane and Rice there’s a Europa Conference League.
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Kane and Rice’s message was almost choreographed. It’s clear it was an issue in the England camp. They fear the negative mood may upset some of the team.
But why should the BBC or ITV be turned into England Fan TV to keep those precious players in a cheery mood? For a start, don’t the people who pay a TV licence fee deserve proper punditry, and not former players walking on eggshells to avoid upsetting poor Harry and Declan?
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But they also need to remember it’s the British Broadcasting Corporation. Along with ITV, it’s a service that’s beamed into living rooms across the United Kingdom and not just England.
There will be plenty of Scots, Welsh and Northern Irish tuning in to enjoy England struggling. They don’t want to be fed nonsense that England are playing well when they’re not.
They already have to stomach it when they actually are playing well. But they are looking for fair analysis, no matter how the Three Lions are doing.
Maybe it’s because this England side has been given a bit of a free ride for a few years. They’ve been enjoying the progress and positivity of Gareth Southgate‘s reign as the England boss lifted the mood and did improve the attitude towards his national team.
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But now it’s crunch time and it is time to win. The rebuilding job was completed but now England have to be winning.
No longer will losing a semi-final to Croatia, blowing (let’s be honest) a final against Italy and going down to France in a quarter-final be deemed good enough.
England should also be wary of celebrating that they’re on the ‘good’ side of the draw. It’s patronising to the likes of Italy, Switzerland, Holland and Austria for a start, never mind their Slovakia opponents tomorrow.
But Kane and Rice need to give their heads a wobble if they want pundits to be cheerleaders. And by their logic then Geoff Hurst is the only one who could ever question an England player.
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Roberto Martinez needs to show some bottle and drop Cristiano Ronaldo if Portugal want to win Euro 2024.
His petulant showing against Georgia was quite something to behold. Quite what he was doing at his age playing in a group game which was a dead rubber for Portugal who knows.
Maybe he wanted to maintain his record of scoring in every group stage of every major tournament he’s played at. That would be something he would do of course. Put himself before the team.
If he really is a crucial member of the team, then he should have been resting up like Bruno Fernandes. Portugal have a serious squad. Martinez should show Ronaldo who is boss.
ONSIDE
Khvicha Kvaratskhelia. Not a name that rolls off the tongue but the Georgia man could be the talk of the tournament.
OFFSIDE
Ruud van Nistlerooy and Rene Hake heading to work under Erik ten Hag. Could be more managers than players at Old Trafford.
