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Trying to Explain Why Tottenham’s Kane is on Set Pieces

By Alexander Balano

MARSEILLE, FRANCE - JUNE 11: Wayne Rooney (R) and Harry Kane (L) of England talk before a free kick during the UEFA EURO 2016 Group B match between England and Russia at Stade Velodrome on June 11, 2016 in Marseille, France. (Photo by Lars Baron/Getty Images)
MARSEILLE, FRANCE - JUNE 11: Wayne Rooney (R) and Harry Kane (L) of England talk before a free kick during the UEFA EURO 2016 Group B match between England and Russia at Stade Velodrome on June 11, 2016 in Marseille, France. (Photo by Lars Baron/Getty Images) /
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One of England’s best strikers, Tottenham Hotspur’s Harry Kane, has yet to score in this year’s European Championship and a good reason behind that is because Roy Hodgson insists the 22-year-old is his best set piece specialist.

It’s actually quite hard to explain why in the world Roy Hodgson has preferred to use Tottenham striker, Harry Kane, as one of his go-to players on set pieces: corner kicks and free kicks. Surely Hodgson has an “idea” but in all honesty, it makes no sense.

Related Story: Walker Backs Tottenham's Kane as England's Main Striker

One would think that someone of Kane’s stature as the Premier League’s reigning Golden Boot winner with 25 goals should be on the receiving end of corners and free kicks. Instead, the 22-year-old is the one who’s delivering the ball on set pieces.

Against Russia, with the help of Sky Sports’ writer, Peter Smith and his article, he looked at six corners that Harry Kane took in a 1-1 draw and gives a quick explanation on what happened in each instance.

Harry Kane’s corners versus Russia:

  1. Overhit forcing Dele Alli to retrieve the ball on the side of the pitch.
  2. Found Chris Smalling who heads the ball over from the penalty spot.
  3. Cleared at the near post.
  4. Cleared at the near post.
  5. Overhit which Russia clears.
  6. Short to Adam Lallana before getting the ball back and overhitting Gary Cahill.

Now, Harry Kane isn’t new to taking set pieces, especially corner kicks as he took seven in the Premier League last season. Except, all of them were short because Mauricio Pochettino’s set piece specialist is Christian Eriksen.

So we’re back to square one. Why does Roy Hodgson feel that Kane is the best person to use on set pieces instead of someone else who is better while also giving your number one striker a chance to score from a corner or free kick?

Here’s Hodgson from June 2nd on why he was defending his decision to let Tottenham’s number one striker take set pieces instead of receiving them.

CHANTILLY, FRANCE - JUNE 12: England manager Roy Hodgson looks on during the EURO 2016 UEFA England training session at Stade du Bourgognes on June 12, 2016 in Chantilly, France. (Photo by Michael Regan - The FA/The FA via Getty Images,)
CHANTILLY, FRANCE – JUNE 12: England manager Roy Hodgson looks on during the EURO 2016 UEFA England training session at Stade du Bourgognes on June 12, 2016 in Chantilly, France. (Photo by Michael Regan – The FA/The FA via Getty Images,) /

"“It depends who is playing,” Hodgson told the Times (via London Evening Standard).“I don’t need to apologise for Kane taking a corner, especially if you’ve got a player with his quality striking a ball and no one else in the team who comes up to that level of striking a ball.”“If we think he’s the best man in terms of the delivery, putting the ball where we want it, we’ll use him.”“If there’s someone else who doesn’t play as a forward but is equally as good, we’ll use him.“Kane took it because he was the best deliverer in that team that was out that day, from both sides.”"

Simply put, at the end of the day, the 68-year-old Hodgson believes Harry Kane — who is a striker and a really darn good one — can translate his goalscoring abilities into being England’s set piece specialist because he can “strike the ball better than anyone on the team”.

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Honestly speaking, that’s not a good enough excuse or reason.

Sky Sports pundit and former Liverpool captain, Jamie Redknapp, not only is critical of Roy Hodgson’s thinking but believes England’s set pieces should be delivered by a midfielder so that Kane can do what he is great at and that’s scoring goals.

"“We’re allowing one of our best players to take corners – and it’s not good news. I can’t understand it,” Redknapp told Sky Sports News HQ’s Euro Verdict.“We’ve got some very good technical players – Alli, Wayne Rooney – so why are we letting Harry Kane take them?”“He can deliver a good ball and he has that cross where it dips into the box, but I’m sure most players can do that.”“We need Kane in the box. To have our best striker taking corners doesn’t make any sense.”"

Next: Tottenham's Dier Refuses to Use Inexperience as Excuse

Working in Hodgson’s favor of keeping Harry Kane on corner kicks is the fact that he has connected on four out of his six attempts for a 66.6 percent success rate. Even though one was a short corner to Adam Lallana and the other was overhit but Dele Alli managed to retrieve the ball in the end.

Taking those two out and Kane’s numbers drop to two successful corners out of six attempts, or a 33.3 percent success rate. Which shows that it’s better to have Kane focus on scoring goals from a set piece rather than deliver them.

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