Harry Kane might’ve slotted a cool goal for England against Denmark, but Gary Lineker reckons the skipper’s lacklustre first-half performance is partly why the team struggled.
The telly footy guru called out Kane’s off-the-ball efforts on Match of the Day, saying “he has barely moved” and pointing out the former Tottenham hotshot’s pressing game was nowhere to be seen. The Bayern Munich man was subbed off for Ollie Watkins with time to spare as the match ended in a 1-1 stalemate in Frankfurt.
Lineker wasn’t alone in his critique; after the match, the studio pundits chewed over why England sat back following Morten Hjulmand’s belter of an equaliser that snuck past Jordan Pickford.
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“Can I offer a slight theory? If you want to press, it has to come from your centre forward first,” Lineker mused. “Harry does not press and he has not pressed in that first half.
“He’s barely moved. Then the team goes deeper and Harry Kane goes even deeper and even when you get the ball you have nothing to hit. I just don’t understand,” reports the Mirror.
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Chipping in, Micah Richards said: “There’s a conundrum with how England want to set up. They want to press and have got the players to press. But Harry Kane is so good at scoring goals and his record is unbelievable.
“When his goal comes, you think, ‘OK, Harry Kane is confident. But the other side of the game, he just needs to improve. When you’re talking about goals, he’s one of the best.”
And Rio Ferdinand concurred, saying: “I would be going mad. I’d be screaming at him. I couldn’t have my centre forward not filling in with the workload the other players are putting. I need to see that intensity. Put their centre halves under pressure as I’m feeling as an England defender.”
Securing a victory over Denmark would have clinched the top position in Group C for England, guaranteeing a more favourable draw in the round of 16. The Three Lions now look ahead to their clash with Slovenia on Tuesday night.