Harry Kane’s chance has come and gone at Euro 2016, Jamie Vardy and Daniel Sturridge must start up front
SunSport's ace columnist reckons it is time to give the benchwarmers the opportunity to shine
WHEN you’re a striker your neck is on the line in every game.
If you get a chance and miss it, that is what will be highlighted by pundits like me.
It is even harder in tournament football because you only have a month to prove yourself — actually forget that, probably a game or two.
For all the goals Harry Kane has scored for Tottenham over the season, we were all looking for an impact in these opening two games of England’s group — and he could not make it.
It is harsh but that is how it is. Leading up to Euro 96, I had not scored for a year for England.
There were question marks about my very inclusion in the team.
The pressure was very much on and, had I not scored in that opening game against Switzerland, I could not have argued if the boss wanted to drop me.
He told me before the tournament started that he was backing me, but I simply had to produce.
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As a striker, you cannot ask more than that from a manager and it is then up to you.
Kane was not able to produce in the first two games and there was simply no time left when he was subbed at the break yesterday.
But I do feel slightly sorry for him as he was up there on his own for both games, whereas when Daniel Sturridge came on he had Jamie Vardy with him.
Then Marcus Rashford came on late on as well to give the Welsh defence even more to think about.
Kane has not had that same support. But his chance might be gone as in the next game Roy Hodgson now has to start with Vardy and Sturridge up front.
I’d have a diamond in behind with Rooney at the peak of it, Dele Alli on the left, with Adam Lallana right and Eric Dier at the base of it.
Now that will concern any team in this tournament.
We simply were not giving the Welsh defence enough to think about in the first half in Lens yesterday. There was no width, not enough bodies in the box and not enough chances being created.
Roy’s neck was on the block at the break and he had to make those changes.
They were bold and they were right — and they came off.
I criticised him in this column after the Russia game for getting things wrong with his subs, so it is only right we praise him for getting it right yesterday.
A year ago I was also bemoaning our lack of strikers but now we have a wealth of goalscoring talent that the manager has taken advantage of.
At half-time Roy said he asked the players to take more risks and believe in themselves more. That is exactly what we saw from the team after the break.
That is how you win tournaments like this. You can’t play it safe.
You have to have a go but, most importantly, you have to take that chance when it comes your way.
Both Vardy and Sturridge did that.
It is not often in recent years we have seen an England team pick themselves up in the way they did against Wales.
We were staring at a dreadful scenario going into the last game with just a point on the board.
There was pressure yesterday but the manager handled it and the players did, too, to get the win.
Four points should see us through now and we need to use the Slovakia game to build confidence.
Whoever we meet in the knockout rounds, we must up our performance, but the second half in Lens will give us confidence that we can do just that.
It could be a 45 minutes that defines Roy’s tenure.
