Southgate must learn from Pochettino mistake with ‘incredibly selfish’ Kane if England hope to win

If England wish to complete a success worse than Greece in 2004, then Gareth Southgate must learn from Mauricio Pochettino and not play half-fit Harry Kane.

Send your thoughts to theeditor@football365.com.

Captain’s slog
No way should Harry Kane be given a start in the final, he does nothing but wander around like he’s waiting on a bus coming
Billy

Kane needs to be dropped! Everytime someone kicks the ball his direction, he’s looking the other way.  That penalty he received Wednesday was an embarrassment.
Michele

Harry Kane should not be played, he is too slow compared to the rest of the team. Gareth Southgate will be making a big mistake if he does.

Why does Southgate not pick Trent Alexander Arnold, one of the best right backs in the country to start a match, he was happy enough to bring him on as a trusted penalty taker.

I hear several TV pundits frustrated with his choices.   Just hope he gets it right on Sunday. Come on England, do us proud.
Theresa

I am sure that I am not the only person saying this but – we need to talk about Harry Kane.

Putting aside the “banter” about him being allergic to trophies, England really need to seriously consider dropping him. Is anyone else getting serious Champions League final vibes here? (Spurs vs Liverpool).

Kane hasn’t been great this tournament – and has still managed three goals. Fair play to him but he’s clearly well below his usual high standards because he is very clearly injured.

He was incredibly selfish to have put himself forward to start against Liverpool in the Champions League and Spurs ultimately lost that game. Please, Harry – learn from this mistake in the past. Do the right thing and make yourself unavailable to start.

Toney and Watkins have both achieved so much more in so much playing less time and where chances against Spain will be few and far between, we need the players on the pitch that can make the most of them. Peak Kane can; but half-fit Kane can’t.

Time to be a real leader and make that sacrifice for the greater good of the team, Harry.
Alex

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Love for Harry
Like most strikers, Kane thrives on service and when you have Trippier unable to play a ball into the box on one side, whilst Saka cuts inside to shoot on the other, there is no wonder Harry has to move into midfield to try to get a touch of the ball.

The system England are playing takes Kane out of the game rather than him just having turned to shit as some one-eyed fans seem to think. If England played with Shaw (or Gomez) and Gordon on the left and Trippier and Trent on the right, the service into the box would be on a different level and you might just see what Harry Kane can do and has done for years, especially if the midfield gets forward and are able to play off him.

Don’t they say class is permanent? I think it is.
Bladey Mick (Harry’s not the problem, Gareth’s system is…)

Negativity
I’ve been reading a lot of your media notes on how England have progressed to the final of Euro 24.

Yet, I find some of your comments quite startling and unnerving, Spain beat France as you clearly stated and your big big comments on the 16yr old who scored that outstanding goal, which I have state was a classic.

But….You put England down the minute the score came thru and the starlet who has hit the headlines, but I’m no mathematical genius, but ain’t their 11 Players on the Spanish team (Not One) the wonder kid?

You put England on the back burner making out that our national team stand no chance against Spain, if you care to study our national teams stats you will see how many youngsters we have who can do some damage to Spain.

Yes they’ve (England) did start of to a shaky start and did play poorly but as the competition has gone on England have really come out of stables and firing on all cylinders, which they showed against the Netherlands.

England came into this tournament as favourites and this is something they’ve shown, and deserve all credit they’ve earned, if your English I suggest you get behind our national team instead of degrading them all the time.

Regards
Mr. G

Worse than Greece
Jesus, England get the softest of penalties for Kane kicking a defender and suddenly Southgate is the messiah. Take a day off.

England winning this would be worse than Greece in 2004. You’ve stunk the tournament out.
Weldoninhio, BAC

Bloody hell
We’re in the final!! If anyone out there predicted that, after the turgid, insomnia- curing group games, or even in the 94th minute against Slovakia, then please let me know saturday’s Lottery numbers ASAP. We can split the money.

Sir Gareth (surely) has made mistakes of course, but has shown during his tenure that he’s willing to change, willing to listen – and most crucially, will always back his players. There’s a real squad game going on with England — there appears to be genuine affection and engagement throughout. I guess that’s what success does for you!

READ NEXT: Okay, Gareth, we’ll trust you – you can name whatever team and any subs you like for the final

Game wise — we were excellent, the first half — which I spent mostly queueing at the bar — was the best performance we’ve had all tournament. Bizarrely, we got lucky with that disgraceful decision for our penalty. And if you think it was a pen, ask yourself how you’d feel if it was given against us. There would be a billion youguv petitions and Starmer would be returning from the US to quell a potential riot.

Can we do it against Spain? I think being slight underdogs will suit us — it takes off some pressure. If we win, obvs incredible, but a defeat can be met with ‘well, they’re amazing’. So a win, win, maybe.

Right, good luck on Sunday, I’m off to start queueing at the bar again.
Dan, Walthamstow.

Love for Gareth
The debate regarding Southgate’s managerial ability largely misses the point.  Gareth is clearly not the world’s best tactician, but he is a fantastic man-manger.  Over the last 50 years we have had a variety of managers, many of whom have been fantastic tacticians (Capello comes to mind at this stage) but that didn’t work.  Indeed, for most of the time it failed very badly.

It would be great to have someone who is simply fantastic at everything, but it’s unlikely we’ll get Guardiola or Klopp to manage England.  In their absence, Gareth has proved beyond all question, that being a great man-manager trumps being a great tactician.
Rob

Who is missing and who won’t make it?
Thinking about where England are now compared to three years ago, I’m just wondering which players we thought would be here and who would be gone.

I think everyone assumed Maguire would be dropped, but he’s still around and only injury has stopped him playing. If anything fans were more concerned than relieved when he couldn’t make it. I think most would have thought Reece James, Mason Mount and Ben Chilwell would have turned up, but they’ve had their injury problems. Rashford might be the big one, he felt like he’d be a mainstay. Sancho too.

Every tournament is a chance to make an impact, and it makes me wonder which of this current squad won’t be going to the next World Cup. I think Walker might decide he’s had enough, as might Kane, if he wants to focus on his club career like Shearer did. But there is a great core to work with and I think there’s little to suggest England’s squad is going to regress after this tournament.

These are days we could only dream about between 2006 and 2018, where five tournaments yielded four total wins. Ignore the negativity, just try to enjoy how good we’ve had it recently.
Keith, Worthing 

Spain rot
If you’re not Spanish, have no Spanish links, and have never supported them in your life do us all a favour and just stay out of things on Sunday night.

There’s absolutely no need to suddenly become a super “fan” of Spain for 2 hours simply because England are playing them.

Just let us enjoy the final and back our team without going on the wind up.

And if you do decide that “I can’t let the England fans enjoy the football without trying to wind them up and annoy them by pretending I’m a massive Spanish fan” then don’t be surprised if the reaction to your “banter” is a little bit hostile.

So maybe just keep quiet, watch the game, and enjoy it as a neutral.

Thanks.
Dave, Durban

The penalty
Oof how hard is defending these days? Must tie hands behind back and cannot ever have your foot horizontal even when clearing the ball.

So basically you’re only allowed to defend with your head and body now. Well not body actually since that will probably get given as a penalty as well.

For those who think it was a penalty because it’s “dangerous play” had the defender gone to clear it with his head instead and kane had booted him in the face would you support a red card for kane for ‘dangerous play’?

If you said yes you’re clearly mental. Both players were looking at the ball, both players had studs raised. It was never a penalty but if that’s what a penalty is these days then you’re going to see a massive uptick in strikers kicking defenders boots in the box and getting pens next season.

It’s a shame that (incorrect) incident overshadowed the game because as a person who hates England national football – that’s the best and most entertaining 45 minutes England have played in years, literal years.

England got a very fortunate penalty but overall deserved to win in opinion.

There is a way for England to beat Spain , yamal and Williams can’t last the whole match and their replacements aren’t particularly amazing. If England can keep the score 0-0 until those two tire around 60 mins they’ll win the trophy.
Lee

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I’ll doubtless be accused of rationalizing or being a homer (do they use that term in the UK?), but I don’t think the penalty decision is as shameful as is being suggested.  With all due respect to Dave Tickner and Gary Neville it’s not the standard “defender trying to block a shot” that they’re making it out to be.

If Denzel Dumfries is intending to block Harry Kane’s shot then he extends his leg directly out in front of himself.  If he does that then his leg is straight with the side of his foot toward Harry Kane.  His foot is slightly higher in the air but further away from Harry.

But as the picture in the article clearly shows he doesn’t do that.  It’s not a block, it’s a tackle.  A tackle where the defender appears to get none of the ball and contacts the attacker with his studs.  He doesnt need to bend his knee to block the shot, but he does.  Ironically, if he keeps his leg straight and right out in front of him he may actually block the shot.

I can completely understand why a defender would be upset by a decision that appears to hamper the opportunity to block shots, but I don’t believe it’s that cut and dried.  Ian Wright indicated that it would be a foul elsewhere on the pitch, and Neville effectively agreed with that assessment.  He countered that “in the box, there’s a bit of licence to go in and block the shot.”  But I don’t believe it was a “true” block, and therefore it was a foul and a penalty.

At the end of the day I’m just happy to have a controversial decision go our way…
Andrew (Homer J) – Canada

I keep reading that shouldn’t have been a penalty and just don’t get it. Studs up in the air challenge that gets the other player with said studs and none of the ball. The offender jumped into it too. The only thing that makes it a not terrible challenge is that it wasn’t two-footed. I think that anywhere else on the pitch that might be a red.
Zdravko

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Tournament bracket
365,

R.e. Your top ten greatest England finals performances

I cannot be the only one who read that and thought, where is the England Scotland game from Euro 96?

That Gazza goal alone takes it to top spot….
Danny P

The myth of the fastest goal
I see the myth of Bryan Robson scoring the fastest goal in the World Cup (at that stage) has reared its head again in your top ten England tournament performances.

Bryan ‘Robbo’ Robson scored after 27 seconds against France in the 1982 World Cup. A great achievement, a great goal, a great moment but not the quickest goal in the World Cup up to that point. Vaclav Masek scored after 16 seconds for Czechoslovakia against Mexico in 1962.

But pedantry isn’t really the point of this mail. It is more to ask why this myth has prevailed? The 1982 World Cup is barely mentioned without reference to Bryan Robson scoring the fastest goal at a World Cup (up to that point) after 27 seconds. If you Google ‘Bryan Robson fastest world cup goal’ you get thousands of articles all saying the same thing. Why?

It has since been battered and the actual record is 11 seconds. I got a free VHS by collecting Smiths Square Crisps wrappers and sending them off on which Bryan Robson himself discussed this and he said he didn’t understand where the myth came from and showed a clip of Masek scoring against Mexico.

So, where did the myth come from and why is it still used so readily when it was never true in the first place and has since been obliterated by a much quicker goal anyway? And won’t someone think of Ernst Lehner who scored after just 26 seconds for Germany against Austria in 1934?
Micki (you forgot to put ‘men’s’ in the title of the article by the way) Attridge