Is Harry Kane England's sacred cow?

[Redlambs]

He was shite today, but of course bloody not

Though I will say when he's in this kind of poor form, someone should really tell him to get in that fecking box and stay there. One goal and he'll be back on fire.

 

[cyberman]

He needs to stay in the box. Theres no need taking up the space of Mount etc while taking away their outball.
Theres no way he breaks Rooneys record in this role

 

[lex talionis]

Kane made no impact today but it’s just one game. If he goes into witness protection against Scotland then we can start asking questions about him.

 

[FattyFooty]

Kane is untouchable, and rightly so...

 

[Renegade]

This is the version of Kane we’d see for the most part if he signed for United. You can bet on it.

 

[MoskvaRed]

This is the version of Kane we’d see for the most part if he signed for United. You can bet on it.

I agree. We shouldn’t go anywhere near him at this stage. As for England, he reminds me of Shearer after his injuries. Still gets goals but lacking mobility to the detriment of the team, at least against the better opponents.

 

[VorZakone]

This is the version of Kane we’d see for the most part if he signed for United. You can bet on it.

Agreed.

 

[Lay]

I have a confession, when he banged hard into the post not long after Sterling scored, I was hoping he would have to go off. Too slow and looked really uncomfortable in the heat today.

As regards being a Golden boot winner in 2018, half his tally were penalties. 5 goals came in the games against Tunisia and Panama and one of those bounced in off his heel and he knew nothing about it. Once we got to the knock-out stage, he just got one penalty and when we needed him most in the semi-final, nothing. Flat-track bully and I hope Huddersfield don't go in for him, he is also 28.

28.. So at his peak?

 

[miked99]

This sort of thread just sums up the reactionary nature of the caf. Someone has a quiet game, they're instantly rubbish.

 

[ayushreddevil9]

This sort of thread just sums up the reactionary nature of the caf. Someone has a quiet game, they're instantly rubbish.

Are you surprised?

 

[balaks]

This sort of thread just sums up the reactionary nature of the caf. Someone has a quiet game, they're instantly rubbish.

Some people are incredibly stupid.

 

[El Zoido]

This sort of thread just sums up the reactionary nature of the caf. Someone has a quiet game, they're instantly rubbish.

Judging anything on international football is a complete waste of time.

 

[horsechoker]

He needs to moove

 

[sewey89]

This thread title has had me giggling for about 5 minutes straight

 

[Bebestation]

I’ve been very unimpressed with his England career.

He plays like a big lump at times in the middle of more speedy or technical players when we have players like Grealish, Sancho, Sterling, Rashford, Foden, Saka etc playing behind him.

 

[Hughes35]

This might be the worst thread I've ever seen.

 

[simplyared]

This sort of thread just sums up the reactionary nature of the caf. Someone has a quiet game, they're instantly rubbish.

Nobody saying he's rubbish. Fact is we've got the best group of players we've had for years at an international tournament. We're leaving players the likes of Sancho, Grealish etc on the bench. With that in mind Kane's place in the team shouldn't be guaranteed. Hope it isn't!

 

[simplyared]

This might be the worst thread I've ever seen.

Why's that bro??

 

[OnlyTwoDaSilvas]

I wouldn't drop him. He should be starting every game, but Southgate shouldn't be averse to taking him off after an hour if he is ineffective, like yesterday. There's lots of attacking options on the bench to change things up and still be very strong.

 

[Hughes35]

Why's that bro??

Because it's just a stupid topic.

Should we drop arguably the best CF in world football, who won the golden boot in the last world cup and has just come off the back of yet another great goal coring season....... For Rashford, a winger who has come off the back of an up and down season / is in bad form. All because Kane had one bad game against Croatia?

 

[Idxomer]

I would be for this thread if you were advocating not playing with a striker at all.

 

[Champ]

Kane hasn't been in particularly good form in the build up to the tournament, and didn't play well on Saturday, so i don't think its a bad question to ask if he deserves to start.

But realistically he is Englands best striker, and usually performs more often than not, so of course he will start every game bar injuries.

 

[The Firestarter]

"Is Harry Kane a cow" was the best title, should've left it.

 

[simplyared]

I would be for this thread if you were advocating not playing with a striker at all.

Yeah but Kane isn't playing as an out and out striker at present.

 

[Glorio]

He'll be fine and show his worth. Sterling/Walker are the bigger issues IMO. Also hoping Foden doesn't just get by with making 1 play in the opening few minutes and being invisible for the remaining 70 or so until he got subbed off.

Interesting cluster of players you chose to address there! Do you support Manchester United by any chance?

 

[Varun]

This thread title has had me giggling for about 5 minutes straight

Same, I was laughing like a 5yr old when I made that change. OP wants to discuss this seriously I guess so here we are

 

[tomaldinho1]

Rashford did nothing and that was against a knackered defence who were chasing the game. There’ll be a lot sterner tests than Croatia to come and we want our best players on the pitch.

 

[sewey89]

Same, I was laughing like a 5yr old when I made that change. OP wants to discuss this seriously I guess so here we are

Boo!

 

[Bwuk]

Kane needs to focus on scoring the goals for England and being the focal point, rather than dropping to link play.

England have loads of players who want ball to feet who can create chances. He doesn’t need to do that. This is partly why I think it’s mental he didn’t take Greenwood. Kane drops and slips Mason through.

 

[krentz]

The team was set up for defensive rigid football. The fullbacks rarely do overlapped, the double pivot were filled by 2 defensive midfielders not exactly known for their creativity, sterling being out of form, and add the fact that this was Foden and Mount first debut in the big international tournament. Dont think you can blame Harry Kane for his sub-standard performance yesterday. Even Lewandowski would've struggled in this circumstance.

 

[Hammondo]

The team was set up for defensive rigid football. The fullbacks rarely do overlapped, the double pivot were filled by 2 defensive midfielders not exactly known for their creativity, sterling being out of form, and add the fact that this was Foden and Mount first debut in the big international tournament. Dont think you can blame Harry Kane for his sub-standard performance yesterday. Even Lewandowski would've struggled in this circumstance.

Kane offered no movement, that really made it difficult. I am no Sterling fan but at least he showed some movement which lead to the goal.

 

[Raees]

This is why I do not want Kane at United for the prices touted. He is not someone who can tear a well organised or top quality defence single handedly.. he is a step below your Suarez and Benzema imo and he’s going to get slower and more immobile.

If he has runners around him and plays false 9 - that could work.

 

[Roane]

Boo!

Moo!

 

[redshaw]

He did play like a scared cow to be fair.

Probably lost some value on the cattle market

 

[Roane]

Kane is a superb player and that isn't in doubt.

However I do think that if you set up a certain way against teams then you simply don't get the best out of certain players and in that scenario if a manager thinks another player would be better suited then yeah do that.

 

[Ish]

The cult of Rashford. Kane the sacred cow. What sort of voodoo are you lads practicing over in the UK?

 

[Pow]

Do we need to sacrifice him at the altar of imhotep

 

[VorZakone]

Because it's just a stupid topic.

Should we drop arguably the best CF in world football, who won the golden boot in the last world cup and has just come off the back of yet another great goal coring season....... For Rashford, a winger who has come off the back of an up and down season / is in bad form. All because Kane had one bad game against Croatia?

Lewa is the best CF.

 

[bosnian_red]

Interesting cluster of players you chose to address there! Do you support Manchester United by any chance?

Hahaha. Coincidental that the City players played like shit yesterday IMO. Anyway I've said for a long time that it's not a good idea to look at Guardiola players form or level of play during the season and hope they'll replicate that elsewhere. He's a brilliant manager who plays a system that is almost impossible to replicate, and they're half the players outside of it. His system gets his attackers in advanced positions with so much space all the time. His midfielders and defenders are coached so well on the ball that they always know how to progress is quickly and effectively. It's not a "normal" team. Literally when looking at players stats, for many of them I straight up ignore how they play for Pep in terms of some of their underlying stats just because I put it more down to system than player.

 

[DWelbz19]

Tooting my own horn here - here's [part of] my post in October 2019 about Kane's desire to drop deeper.

I noticed ever since the World Cup, he's been playing in this strange, almost supplementary 9.5 position. I don't know if that's a personal want for him to become more involved in build-up, or if it's a tactical thing from the manager. Whilst he does have good technical ability for a striker, Harry Kane is blatantly at his best as close to the opposition goal as possible, taking as many shots as possible. Having the best finisher in the league taking fewer shots and fewer touches in the box isn't going to work well.

I do think it's got worse this season. I wouldn't be surprised if he sees his 14 assists this season gone as proof of his creativity from deeper, when it's really a false positive. He got 14 assists from an xA of 3.6.

It feels a bit Rooney-like in his later years, but at least Waz could ping a crossfield. Kane just needs to sit in the 18 yard box and hit the ball as hard as he can.