Harry Kane has called on his teammates to raise their level and lift the pressure on Gareth Southgate, while backing Jude Bellingham to silence the critics when England face Slovakia in the last 16 on Sunday night.
It has not gone unnoticed in the dressing room that Southgate, who had plastic beer cups thrown in his direction by supporters after the goalless draw with Slovenia last Tuesday, has taken the flak for England’s underwhelming displays at Euro 2024. The manager has shielded his team from the discontent emanating from the fanbase and Kane believes the players must not shy away from the expectation on their shoulders.
“We all take it as a team,” the England captain said. “We all want to help each other. We’re all part of the same team, whether it’s the staff or the players. We all have a responsibility to try and win this tournament and ultimately we’re the ones on the pitch to try and make that happen. The boss will prepare us as well as possible, as he always does, and it’s up to us to go out and execute it.
“It’s not the first time there’s been noise around the manager since I’ve been an England player. We know how to deal with it. We know what we’re doing here. We trust the process. The rest is just noise. It’s something that you block out and focus on yourself. We’ve been really good at that in the past and this tournament is no different.”
A major problem for England, who have vowed not to underestimate Slovakia, has been their struggle to create chances. They won Group C despite scoring twice in three matches and there has been little sign of an understanding between Kane and Bellingham. The duo have been crowding each other out and they exchanged one pass in each of the disappointing draws with Denmark and Slovenia.
Southgate is expected to keep faith with his first-choice attack against Slovakia. Kobbie Mainoo is set to replace Conor Gallagher in midfield with Bukayo Saka, Phil Foden and Bellingham playing behind Kane.
Southgate has not lost faith with Bellingham, who celebrated his 21st birthday with the team and coaching staff on Saturday, and Kane believes the Real Madrid midfielder will regain form. “From a captain’s point of view I am always talking to all of the players,” he said. “With Jude we are always talking about how we can improve. We watched clips of the Denmark game to see how we can play better. We would have liked to have had more of a connection.
“But I feel the movements are there. We’re moving really well and [against Slovenia] I thought it was a lot better. The relationship is fairly new. We’re hoping that as the tournament goes on we grow. From Jude’s point of view he just needs to keep doing what he’s doing.
“In tournament football things are accelerated really quickly. In the first game he was the best player. In the last couple of games none of us have reached the level. It’s two games. It isn’t the end of the world. There will be a lot of talk, but that’s part and parcel of playing for England in a major tournament.
“Jude has dealt with that unbelievably well for his age. He’s dealt really well with going to Real Madrid. There’s no worries. He’s a great guy. From both of our points of view we want to go out there tomorrow and start stepping up our levels.”
Kane insisted that the blend in the final third was improving. “I feel we’ve been ruthless on the defensive side, in terms of blocks and blocking crosses and winning balls and now it’s down to me, the attacking players and maybe the midfielders to maybe be a bit more ruthless in the final third of the pitch,” he said.
Southgate said there were no worries over the fitness of Kieran Trippier, who has been deputising for Luke Shaw at left-back. Shaw, who has been out since February with a hamstring injury, is expected to be on the bench. “Luke has trained today,” Southgate said. “We will see whether he could have some involvement tomorrow. Everyone else is fit and available.”
