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Tottenham’s Kane: England’s Striker Partnership Needs Time

By Alexander Balano

England's striker Wayne Rooney (L) gestures as talks with England's striker Harry Kane during a team training session in Watford, north of London, on June 1, 2016.England are set to play Portugal in an international friendly football match at Wembley on June 2, ahead of Euro 2016. / AFP / GLYN KIRK / NOT FOR MARKETING OR ADVERTISING USE / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE (Photo credit should read GLYN KIRK/AFP/Getty Images)
England's striker Wayne Rooney (L) gestures as talks with England's striker Harry Kane during a team training session in Watford, north of London, on June 1, 2016.England are set to play Portugal in an international friendly football match at Wembley on June 2, ahead of Euro 2016. / AFP / GLYN KIRK / NOT FOR MARKETING OR ADVERTISING USE / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE (Photo credit should read GLYN KIRK/AFP/Getty Images) /
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Leading up to the 2016 European Championship, England’s striker partnership still needs time to develop according to Tottenham Hotspur forward Harry Kane.

England managed to beat Portugal 1-0 in yesterday’s international friendly and final tune-up match before the Euros commence on June 10th. But despite the win, questions still linger around the team with each passing game.

Related Story: Dele Alli: England Can Adopt Tottenham's Mentality for Euros

Against Portgual, England manager Roy Hodgson opted to go with a 4-3-3 formation with Harry Kane, Jamie Vardy and Wayne Rooney playing from left to right and leading the Three Lions’ attack.

Looking at that striker partnership on paper will make opposing teams and managers wary of where an attack will be coming from and who will end up scoring.

To have England’s record goalscorer in Rooney with 53 goals and counting, plus the Premier League’s Golden Boot winner, Kane, who had 25 goals and Jamie Vardy the runner-up with 24, this should have been a formidable trio of strikers.

Instead, the three looked out of place. Wayne Rooney would drive through the middle with Harry Kane and Jamie Vardy playing far too wide from one another. It could best be surmised as a work in progress, something that Kane acknowledged. After all, it’s the first time they all played together.

LONDON, ENGLAND – JUNE 02: Harry Kane of England in action during the international friendly match between England and Portugal at Wembley Stadium on June 2, 2016 in London, England. (Photo by Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND – JUNE 02: Harry Kane of England in action during the international friendly match between England and Portugal at Wembley Stadium on June 2, 2016 in London, England. (Photo by Shaun Botterill/Getty Images) /

"“I don’t think you can judge it on one performance,” said Kane (via Sky Sports). “It’s one game, the understanding isn’t just going to happen overnight.”“We were asked to play together against Portugal and we won the game.”“Of course we would have wanted a few more chances and few more shots at goal, but it’s something we are still working on so there is no reason for anyone to get too downhearted.”“It’s a learning curve. These games were to prepare us for the Euros and I feel they have done that. We’ll see what formation the manager picks against Russia and we will just do our best.”"

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The 22-year-old Tottenham striker has a point in that there’s a learning curve if Rooney, Vardy and Kane haven’t played together at all. But at the same time, there isn’t much room for error because there are no more tune-up matches.

On June 10, the European Championship begins, and testing out different formations and personnel in the group stage against the likes of Russia, Wales and Slovakia (in that order) could see a quick exit for England.

It’s good to see that Roy Hodgson is experimenting with other formations just in case one doesn’t work out, but there’s a possibility that it could backfire.

However if Harry Kane feels confident with whatever the 68-year-old England boss decides then there’s nothing that can be done.

"“It’s not just that formation, we have been doing a few,” Harry Kane continued. “It’s important that you have that versatility going into a tournament so that if things aren’t going right for you then you can change it.”“We have been doing two or three different formations and hopefully they pay off for us.”“We will start working towards the Russia game after a few days off and we will see what works best.”"

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For England’s sake, Roy Hodgson needs to find the right formation and personnel quickly and hope for the best that everything works out. Because although the Three Lions won all of their qualifying and tune-up matches, they were hardly challenged.

A loss or two, or even more, could help Hodgson figure out what needs to be fixed rather than always winning and being complacent ahead of a major tournament.

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