A while back someone asked about Kane's performances for Spurs etc. From the matches I've seen I think he seems to play best when it's all about attack-attack-attack, high press and surge forward with Son, Bale, Moura etc sprinting out. Southgate says he's built his team around him but suffocates him at the same time, just like Mourinho was starting to do before he departed their club.
Southgate donkeyed the opportunity to get Sterling and Vardy sprinting out at the last world cup, and he's doing similar again here. We won that Czech game because covid restrictions forced Gareth to play someone new who decided to actually run and try to make things happen. . Grealish went whoopee and joined in and the two of them got the whole team up the pitch. What we need are strikers who will go with them and be in the places to receive the ball in the box. Apart from Kane's one shot on target and a couple of runs out chasing a long ball, he didn't seem to do much last night. In the post match interview Southgate sounded surprised, almost said at one point it was Saka's improvisation!
Defend by all means, but you've got to attack man. Look at Leicester 2015-2016. Defend hard and then attack hard. That's how you win when you're not the best. By making sure you make chances when you can, and hit them hard when you move through the gears. That team wasn't the best defensively, but they made it count, overturning several 2-0 down or 3-0 down situations to win matches. I just can't see England in their current tactics and mindset being able to overturn a one goal deficit, nevermind 2 or 3.
