How insipid defeat by Brazil exposed 2 positions England struggle to cover for
It may have been coincidence that without Harry Kane, England failed to score for the first time since their goalless draw against the USA at the last World Cup. But, in reality, it was no coincidence at all.
For all the deserved hype surrounding Jude Bellingham, Kane remains Gareth Southgate’s most crucial player. Without Kane — and Bukayo Saka to an extent — England’s attacking threat is thwarted. Reduced intimidation. Reduced menace. Regulating England’s attack when they aren’t playing is significantly easier, providing the opposition with greater impetus to impose themselves.
In Kane’s absence, Ollie Watkins was handed a Euro 2024 audition. Without much service, he was industrious without pulling up any trees.
Anthony Gordon gave a good account on his debut but is short of Saka’s immense quality.
Ivan Toney will have his chance on Tuesday against Belgium to stake a claim to be Kane’s back-up, while Gordon, Jarrod Bowen, Cole Palmer and Marcus Rashford will hope for opportunities to state their cases out wide.
As Southgate digested defeat, the performance without the absentees reinforced what he already knew.
‘We need to find out about them (alternatives to Kane), we need to know where we might head if we didn’t have Harry for a big match,’ he explained. ‘We were clearly missing a couple that would normally start but for us it was a good experiment.’
That captain Kane has left the England camp to return to Bayern Munich for treatment on his injured ankle will heighten anxiety. Although Southgate moved quickly to reassure fans. ‘The injury he’s got now is a bit of an extreme incident, he got his foot caught in the netting,’ explained Southgate. ‘He’s such a good professional that he’ll give himself the best chance of being
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