Yahoo Finance Raheem Sterling: England’s creativity, not Harry Kane, is the issue up front at Euros
England’s players have rallied around captain Harry Kane following his subdued start to Euro 2020 and insisted the team needs to create more openings for him.
Gareth Southgate yesterday revealed Kane would start tomorrow's group decider against the Czech Republic and said he remains England's most important player, despite being replaced by the manager against both Croatia and Scotland.
The Tottenham forward finished last season with the most goals and assists in the Premier League but he is yet to have a shot on target at the tournament, leading to suggestions that he is either lacking fitness or struggling to click in Southgate's set-up.
But Raheem Sterling and Phil Foden, who have played either side of Kane in both games, are among his teammates to offer a similar explanation for his form, saying England simply need to create more.
"I have seen a few comments blaming Harry but we didn't create enough for him to even have a chance [against Scotland]," said Foden. "It is something to work on and hopefully we can just keep getting better."
Sterling, who has scored England's only goal so far, in the 1-0 win over Croatia, dismissed the idea that Kane's form is any sort of concern.
"He hasn't scored in two games," Sterling said. "That's not that serious. I'm sure when we need him most, he'll score.
"We as a team need to produce more for him, but it's two games. Of course he's a player who knows he can score in every game, and he will be the first person to be disappointed, but I know when it's crunch time Harry will be there, that's for sure."
Kane's run helped to create space for Sterling's goal against Croatia, and his former Spurs team-mate Kieran Trippier believes his off the ball work is still under-appreciated.
"With H, he works so hard for the team and people might not recognise what he does off the ball," Trippier said. "I believe in Harry and I know he will score goals. He is our captain, our leader, a big player for us and we just need to create chances for him."
Southgate explained his reasoning for twice substituting Kane for Marcus Rashford in the first two group games by revealing England had learned to "manage his game-time" at the last World Cup and backed the 27-year-old to silence his doubters, as he has so often done in his career.
"He's fundamental — not only in the goals he scores but the build-up play and everything else he brings," Southgate said.
"There will be a lot of questions being asked about him, but he has been through that 100 times before and come up with the goals that have won us the next games. I expect that to be the same moving forward."
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