Given the velocity with which the wheel of blame has been spinning for England during these Euros, it is something of an inevitability that it should end up pointing at Harry Kane.
If you’re looking for the precise insults thrown in the England captain’s direction since the victory over Switzerland you can Google the radio station yourself. But even if the criticism has been over the top, Kane still doesn’t look himself on the pitch.
So far the national team’s record goalscorer has added two more to his collection in Germany, both poacher’s efforts turned in from close range (one with the left foot, one with his head). For a team that have scored five goals from open play, that’s not a bad return. It’s just the rest of his play that feels off.
Kane appears to the eye to be lacking in his usual intensity, half a yard off being able to lead the press. In the air he’s struggled, the ball often being turned over when it goes long to him (as it often does). Against Switzerland he had 27 touches, a remarkably low number for the man who has been the focal point of this England side for years.
Some are asking whether Kane should be dropped for Wednesday’s semi-final against the Netherlands. If Gareth were “brave”, the argument goes, he’d do it, but he won’t so he isn’t. This question has the benefit of digging out both Kane and his manager and so, therefore, job’s a good ’un.
A look at some of Kane’s numbers backs up the eye test, but doesn’t necessarily suggest a crisis. Against Switzerland, he had two shots (one off target, the other blocked). He won two of his five aerial challenges, after winning two out of six against Slovakia (when he had five efforts at goal, with one on target, his winner).
In terms of running, Kane has averaged a distance of 10.2km per match. This compares with the 12.2km clocked up by Declan Rice, who is visibly putting himself about. It’s also less than Jude Bellingham’s 10.8km. But it’s more than Bukayo Saka and Kieran Trippier, who average 9.6km and 9.2km respectively patrolling either flank. Kane’s maximum recorded speed, meanwhile, has been 32km/h. Comparing him here with pace merchants Saka or Kyle Walker would be unfair, but it’s the same as the highest speed reached by Rice in his many sprints, while Bellingham has managed 33.5km/h.
What these stats show is that in some key metrics which might substantiate claims of Kane being off the pace, he is in the middle of the pack. But his pass completion rate of 76.8% is among the worst in the team. He is near top of the tree when it comes to being fouled (his 10 times beaten only by Bellingham’s 11).
Kane had his superb debut season at Bayern Munich cut short by a back injury and played just over 90 minutes across England’s two friendlies before these Euros. Suspicions remain that he has not fully recovered, even though Gareth Southgate, asked directly earlier in the tournament whether Kane was fit, replied with a straightforward “yes”. Southgate’s argument was that it was match fitness his captain was lacking. With Kane substituted in extra time on Saturday after cramping up in both calves, it appears this is still a work in progress. Southgate was asked again about Kane’s fitness after the Switzerland match and did not engage with the topic, instead extolling Kane’s qualities as a leader.
When Kane is not at the top of his game, people notice, and that’s a testament to his abiding quality and influence. It may also be, however, that he is sacrificing himself for the team; not just by playing through pain but in playing a more limited role.
It appears that gone are the days of Kane as playmaker and poacher, the role he took up for England in Qatar and carried on into this season and the dominant qualification phase for Germany. With an actual No 10 on the field, in the shape of Bellingham, and another out on the left and desperate to come inside, in Phil Foden, three is very much a crowd. Kane is back to playing as more of a straightforward 9, but in a system which has struggled to click into gear. He has been seeing less of the ball and, arguably, having to receive it in difficult positions when he does. One more stat: Kane has received only 91 passes in the tournament, nearly a whole 200 fewer than Bellingham (288) and Foden (283).
Such is Kane’s poaching ability that Southgate would be right to select him for that alone, never mind the leadership, or the game intelligence, or the tournament experience. But if he is not secretly injured, and if England’s ability to enact the approach designed to get the best out of all their flair players continues to improve, as it did against Switzerland, it may not be wise to back against Kane making his mark once again, this time against the Netherlands.
