Harry Kane has come under heavy criticism for his poor form during the ongoing European Championship and most pundits think he should be benched against the Czech Republic.
The Spurs man has looked lack-lustre during England’s first two group games and since Gareth Southgate has someone like Dominic Calvert-Lewin in the first-team squad, the manager should make this bold but necessary selection call on Tuesday.
Usually, Southgate does not talk too much about his starting line-ups beforehand but the manager surprisingly has made it pretty clear that Harry Kane is going to start against the Czech Republic.
“You can assume that yeah[he is going to start,” Southgate told ITV, as quoted. “Absolutely. I don’t mind giving you that one.
“In one of the games (Croatia) we were already ahead and we needed energy, we needed to press and keep the lead and didn’t need additional goals.
“With Harry during the World Cup we ended up with him playing a lot of football and we felt we needed to manage the load a bit this time.
“We have got good options on the bench to bring people into the game, but he is our most important player. There is no doubt about that. You only have to look at his goalscoring record with us to see his importance to the team,” he said.
“He is fundamental not only to the goals he scores but the build-up play and everything else he brings.
“I know there will be a lot of questions being asked about him at the moment but he has been through that 100 times before. I have answered that in this role several times in the past and he has come up with the goals that have won us the next games and I expect that to be the same moving forward.”
Should DCL replace Harry Kane up front?
Harry Kane had a superb season with Tottenham Hotspur, scoring 23 goals in the Premier League but there’s no denying that the striker looks really exhausted right now.
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Against Croatia and Scotland, Harry Kane did not add any significant value while going forward so it would only make sense that Dominic Calvert-Lewin comes into the side on Tuesday.
The Everton man has been in great form over the past year scoring 16 league goals and purely based on form, he should replace the underwhelming England captain.
Southgate has this habit of catering to his superstar players and this exactly what he is doing now with Kane. If the Spurs man can fit his previous form then all’s well and good but if England cannot pick up at least a point then both Harry Kane and his manager will be hounded by the British media for months to come.
