Paul Merson took a cheeky dig at Harry Kane during England’s lacklustre performance against Slovenia.
Despite another uninspiring display, the 0-0 draw was still enough for Gareth Southgate’s side to top Group C as Denmark vs Serbia also ended goal-less. England are now set to face a third-placed team in the last 16 on Sunday.
Before the match, Kane had urged pundits and ex-players to be more supportive of the side. Notably, Gary Lineker and Alan Shearer have been highly critical, with the former branding the performance against Denmark “s***”. Kane reminded them they hadn’t won anything while wearing an England shirt, highlighting the pressure associated with representing their country.
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The Bayern Munich striker said: “I would never disrespect any ex-player. All I would say is remember what it is like to wear the shirt and that their words are listened to. Some of the lads, I don’t know how many, but we do hear it.
“We all want to win a major tournament and I’m sure they want us to win a major tournament and being as helpful as they can and building the lads up with confidence would be a much better way of going about it.”
However, Kane’s remarks were met with ridicule in some circles. As England struggled against Slovenia, Arsenal legend Merson couldn’t resist taking a jab at the former Tottenham forward on X (formerly Twitter), posting: “Brilliant first half and lots of shots on goal against the best team in Europe…. (Is that okay Harry?).”
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(Image: PA)
England’s performance picked up slightly after the break, with the substitutes giving the team a much-needed boost. At full-time, the crowd’s frustration was palpable, with boos echoing around the stadium and some fans chucking plastic cups towards Southgate as he acknowledged them.
Despite the lacklustre draw, Kane remained optimistic, insisting: “I think we can be proud of finishing top. It’s not easy in these major tournaments, as you’ve seen with other nations, other big nations, in the tournament already not finishing top, so we can enjoy this for sure.”
He added: “Another good clean sheet, which we’re going to need if we want to go far in this tournament, that’s for sure, so credit to the boys for that. We enjoy it and move on to the next round.”