Xinhua News Agency / PA Images
Xinhua News Agency / PA Images / PA Images
YOU JOIN US at quite a complicated point in the Republic of Ireland’s World Cup campaign.
As things stand they need to win two games in a row, hope that Scotland don’t beat Slovenia, or that Bosnia invades Cyprus, or that the moon is in the seventh house and Jupiter aligns with Mars. And that’s just to make a playoff.
And then there’s the new deal for the management team. All going well and Martin and Roy could be leading Ireland on a rollicking Russian adventure before taking us into battle on home soil at Euro 2020.
All going not so well and we’re faced with two years of O’Neill catapulting the carcass of Jonathan Walters at opposing defences and Keane attempting to death stare Aiden McGeady into liquid form.
It’s all up in the air, you see (as it so often is with Ireland).
Things should be more clear cut for England, then, given that they have achieved qualification with a game to spare and can focus on the most pressing issue in any Three Lions World Cup build-up: to WAG or not to WAG?
That’s presuming Gareth Southgate has learned the one important lesson from the 97 minutes of huffing and puffing against Slovenia that secured England’s place at the finals.
No, after all the agonising about leadership, culture and DNA, all the Alan Shearer TED talks and touching the hem of Bobby Charlton’s garment, the Royal Marines boot camps and tactical frameworks, Southgate has now surely found the solution to 52 years of hurt.
Adam Davy
Adam Davy
And it it this: Give the ball to Harry Kane. A lot. Tell Jordan Henderson and Eric Dier that they will never be Xavi and Iniesta, never mind Toni Kroos and Sami Khedira. Just give the ball to Kane. Hit it at him high or low. It doesn’t matter where he is. If he’s somewhere near the corner flag, give him the ball. If he’s in the toilet with the Racing Post, knock on the door and tell him you have something for him.
It was three minutes into injury time against Slovenia last night before Kyle Walker had the bright idea to do just that, and look what happened.
Basically, Gareth, just make England “the Harry Kane team” as well.
People thought it was an insult when Pep Guardiola described Spurs in that way. But, eh, the dude had just scored 13 goals in a month. The ARE the Harry Kane team. They are cleverly constructive and ferocious and aggressive and all for the purpose of giving Harry Kane the ball as often as possible. And why not? He has scored 37 goals in 2017, more than almost half the actual teams in the Premier League.
Of course, Spurs weren’t always the Harry Kane team.
Back in December 2011 he was part of a makeshift Tottenham squad that was disinterestedly fulfilling its Europa League group stage obligations on a freezing night in Tallaght, starting the game on the bench.
TV3 had covered Shamrock Rovers Europa League adventure with great enthusiasm but by the time of the visit of Spurs spirits had weakened on all sides. For Rovers and their host broadcaster, the long trek around Europe had left resources overstretched. What had started with multi-camera big production whizz-bang had dwindled to myself and Roddy Collins pitch side in overcoats, trudging to the end of the group stage like Shackleton’s South Pole expeditionaries.
Xinhua News Agency / PA Images
Xinhua News Agency / PA Images / PA Images
So there was no hype or hullabaloo about the unprepossessing young striker with, even back then, the look of a cheerful farmhand. That Kane would score the first of his 110 goals for Tottenham after coming on as a 76th minute sub didn’t seem so important as Europa League fever was replaced by frostbite and pneumonia.
But what’s remarkable looking back on that goal now is how similar it was to so many of those that followed it. A Danny Rose cross is headed back towards Kane, slightly behind the striker. Kane is already moving into position, planting with the left foot and striking with the right like a sweep shot in cricket, his apparently ungainly body pivoting in perfect technique, then moving off in bashful, unshowy celebration.
A lot has been made of Kane’s spirit of self-improvement since then. He uses Tom Brady as a role model, another unheralded talent whose intense focus made him great. He has worked diligently on his physical development and finishing technique, the minutiae of acceleration, psychology and, latterly, nutrition.
But the football intelligence was on show even back on that night in Tallaght. He’s the quintessential ‘first five yards are in his head’ player, making up for a relative lack of pace with decision-making way ahead of those around him. That ultimately is what separates the great players from the rest, and if people are calling England “the Harry Kane team” at the World Cup then they may well be on to something.
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The answer to England's World Cup woes? Become 'the Harry Kane team' as well
YOU JOIN US at quite a complicated point in the Republic of Ireland’s World Cup campaign.
As things stand they need to win two games in a row, hope that Scotland don’t beat Slovenia, or that Bosnia invades Cyprus, or that the moon is in the seventh house and Jupiter aligns with Mars. And that’s just to make a playoff.
And then there’s the new deal for the management team. All going well and Martin and Roy could be leading Ireland on a rollicking Russian adventure before taking us into battle on home soil at Euro 2020.
All going not so well and we’re faced with two years of O’Neill catapulting the carcass of Jonathan Walters at opposing defences and Keane attempting to death stare Aiden McGeady into liquid form.
It’s all up in the air, you see (as it so often is with Ireland).
Things should be more clear cut for England, then, given that they have achieved qualification with a game to spare and can focus on the most pressing issue in any Three Lions World Cup build-up: to WAG or not to WAG?
That’s presuming Gareth Southgate has learned the one important lesson from the 97 minutes of huffing and puffing against Slovenia that secured England’s place at the finals.
Not the enduring appeal of the paper plane for whiling away the time at tedious international encounters.
No, after all the agonising about leadership, culture and DNA, all the Alan Shearer TED talks and touching the hem of Bobby Charlton’s garment, the Royal Marines boot camps and tactical frameworks, Southgate has now surely found the solution to 52 years of hurt.
And it it this: Give the ball to Harry Kane. A lot. Tell Jordan Henderson and Eric Dier that they will never be Xavi and Iniesta, never mind Toni Kroos and Sami Khedira. Just give the ball to Kane. Hit it at him high or low. It doesn’t matter where he is. If he’s somewhere near the corner flag, give him the ball. If he’s in the toilet with the Racing Post, knock on the door and tell him you have something for him.
It was three minutes into injury time against Slovenia last night before Kyle Walker had the bright idea to do just that, and look what happened.
Basically, Gareth, just make England “the Harry Kane team” as well.
People thought it was an insult when Pep Guardiola described Spurs in that way. But, eh, the dude had just scored 13 goals in a month. The ARE the Harry Kane team. They are cleverly constructive and ferocious and aggressive and all for the purpose of giving Harry Kane the ball as often as possible. And why not? He has scored 37 goals in 2017, more than almost half the actual teams in the Premier League.
Of course, Spurs weren’t always the Harry Kane team.
Back in December 2011 he was part of a makeshift Tottenham squad that was disinterestedly fulfilling its Europa League group stage obligations on a freezing night in Tallaght, starting the game on the bench.
TV3 had covered Shamrock Rovers Europa League adventure with great enthusiasm but by the time of the visit of Spurs spirits had weakened on all sides. For Rovers and their host broadcaster, the long trek around Europe had left resources overstretched. What had started with multi-camera big production whizz-bang had dwindled to myself and Roddy Collins pitch side in overcoats, trudging to the end of the group stage like Shackleton’s South Pole expeditionaries.
So there was no hype or hullabaloo about the unprepossessing young striker with, even back then, the look of a cheerful farmhand. That Kane would score the first of his 110 goals for Tottenham after coming on as a 76th minute sub didn’t seem so important as Europa League fever was replaced by frostbite and pneumonia.
But what’s remarkable looking back on that goal now is how similar it was to so many of those that followed it. A Danny Rose cross is headed back towards Kane, slightly behind the striker. Kane is already moving into position, planting with the left foot and striking with the right like a sweep shot in cricket, his apparently ungainly body pivoting in perfect technique, then moving off in bashful, unshowy celebration.
A lot has been made of Kane’s spirit of self-improvement since then. He uses Tom Brady as a role model, another unheralded talent whose intense focus made him great. He has worked diligently on his physical development and finishing technique, the minutiae of acceleration, psychology and, latterly, nutrition.
But the football intelligence was on show even back on that night in Tallaght. He’s the quintessential ‘first five yards are in his head’ player, making up for a relative lack of pace with decision-making way ahead of those around him. That ultimately is what separates the great players from the rest, and if people are calling England “the Harry Kane team” at the World Cup then they may well be on to something.
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