27 Sep 2026 09:23:52
If you could be bothered with watching the England game last night at least you witnessed a cracking game of football.
Trafford did himself no harm but was appallingly let down by awful defending.
DCL only got a few minutes after coming on for Kane - and herein lies England's biggest problem, Harry Kane!
I know this isn't going to be popular with everyone but whilst he remains in that starting X1 England will never win anything.
Don't get me wrong, a club level he's lethal, against Latvia, Lithuania and Wales he's brilliant.
But the moment he's up against the likes of Spain or France, and especially in the latter stages of a big tournament, he disappears!
You could argue that he scored last night - questionable! That header may well have hit the post until Sideshow Bob deflected it. Not only did he miss yet another penalty for England he also had a brilliant opportunity to play through a totally unmarked Anthony Gordon but chose to shoot himself and miss.
The Anthony Gordon goal was a thing of beauty, tearing the world champions to pieces with a few slick passes - none of which Kane had a hand in.
I'm sorry Harry, you've done your bit for England but it's time to look to the future with a far quicker and more fluid forward line.
And also time for Trafford to step up and replace and less than secure Pickford between the sticks.
There we go, I feel a lot better for saying that now:) ) )
1.) 27 Sep 2026
27 Sep 2026 10:04:37
Never rated Kane regardless of his success. Thats why he went to Germany. Without son feeding him gimmees not good enough for prem.
2.) 27 Sep 2026
27 Sep 2026 11:20:39
I noted two points regarding our players.
1 - Trafford did not dilly dally on the ball like we've seen him do occasionally in PL games, and his distribution was by and large quite good. He was totally blameless for goals 1 and 2, both of which came from errors by Man City players, I wonder if they were in quite the right state of mind for such a big game after recent events. It would be very hard to blame for goal 3, but he may think he could have stopped it if he'd been a fraction quicker off his line, but that's being very picky.
2 - DCL didn't have any real scoring opportunities, but I did see he was always finding the right positions, and only needed a good final ball from a teammate.
England were rocked a bit by the early 1st Spanish goal, but after that it was a close contest, and on another day the result could have been different.
3.) 27 Sep 2026
27 Sep 2026 12:52:42
Never rated Harry Kane ?
Harry Kane's pro career with England, Spuds and Bayern Munich
537 matches 400 goals
Would have loved him at Leeds.
4.) 27 Sep 2026
27 Sep 2026 12:58:54
Cleggy.Harry's more than done his bit. he is England's record scorer.
a record that is extremely unlikely to ever be beaten.
Harry is 33, not getting any younger and he himself at end of World Cup suggested this was his last WC
So yes a pacy, younger genuine goalscoring striker to replace Harry the Great is preferable at some point.
But whom ?
England dont exactly have a plethora of them ; if any genuinely at all!
5.) 27 Sep 2026
27 Sep 2026 13:10:26
To be honest, I have Kane as possibly the best CF in the world, definitely one of them.
I think at an England level, we would have struggled to get anywhere in any tournament because I don't think we have had any decent CF's in England (until now DCL is bang on form) .
However, I do agree that Kane can also be a huge problem, when he drops deep, he wipes away any positivity and attacking threat, and he does have a tendency to shoot when better options are available (but sometime he scores) .
It's basically time for another prolific English goal scorer to challenge/replace him, but not sure that will happen, the FA love him.
6.) 27 Sep 2026
27 Sep 2026 13:56:13
I agree Baz, he's more than does his bit for England but everyone has a sell by date.
His record in the final stages and against the best sides isn't good, that's why it time to move on.
Listening to the radio just, and they were talking about having players who've got 70/80 caps in their position but their back-ups have only got 3 or 4 between them. Who replaces Kane if he gets injured, and who have we got who can step up at the next World Cup - now is the time to start looking for that person.
Another point to ponder on - Spain turned up last night with pretty much their World Cup winning team. England had half a dozen drop outs during the lead up to the game, how come?
What are Spain doing that we aren't?
You want to beat the best and become European or World Champions you have to study what they try and replicate it.
7.) 27 Sep 2026
27 Sep 2026 14:06:11
It's definitely cocky and not the other.
Carry on and he will get caught hopefully not in one of our games.
Thats my opinion.
8.) 27 Sep 2026
27 Sep 2026 15:35:20
If anyone thinks DCL would score more than Kane they need their head testing.
9.) 27 Sep 2026
27 Sep 2026 16:29:42
Whiteman, if you think Trafford was "cocky" last night, you can't have been watching the same game as me. I commented above that last night, with the ball at his feet, he never let the Spanish players get too close before moving it on, and his distribution was generally good, I hope he starts playing like that for Leeds.
And Cleggy, if you thougt Harry Kane's headed goal was questionable, I recommend a visit to Specsavers, the camera behind the goal showed it was bang on target, which is why it was awarded to him pretty much straight away and no thought given to making it an OG for Cucurella.
His slip when taking the Pen was maybe down to the modern obsession with having the sprinklers on right up to kick off, and the surface being a little greasy. Yes he could have passed to Gordon instead of shooting himself, but most strikers in his position would've done likewise. HK is a top top striker, and I'd have him at Leeds like a shot.
10.) 27 Sep 2026
27 Sep 2026 22:22:47
I rate Harry Kane. In terms of pure numbers they speak for themselves but I don't rate him as England's best ever striker. Not even England's best striker in my 32 yrs.
I look at the vast majority of his goals against weak teams and go if we really had Watkins/Toney/DCl/etc there instead of him do we really lose much.
I think he's an anti-Haaland - who some would call rigid. Others (like me) would call it tactical discipline. He stays where a striker should be. Kane wants to do everything and be everywhere against good teams, spreads himself too thin and ends up doing more harm than good.
Kane has rarely delivered in semis or finals or against big teams in three world cups. If you need someone to score against Panama or Senegal he's your man.
2018 no goals in QF Vs Sweden or SF vs. Croatia. Did turn a dour draw Vs. Tunisia for us.
2022 scored a penalty Vs France (also missed a penalty)
2026 group stage goals and yes dragged us through Vs Dr Congo. A. Penalty vs. Mexico. No goals in QF Vs Norway. No goals Vs Argentina. Kanes best non penalty tournament goal was Vs Germany in euro 2020 for me and though that's not to be sniffed at it's slim returns.
Prime Michael Owen (1998-2005) . Goal Vs a top romania team who beat us on the night. The Argentina goal and won a dubious penalty that shearer converted. The Germany hattrick (yes a qualifier) . Won a second game winning pen Vs Argentina in 2002. Scored against eventual champions Brazil in the quarters. Scored early Vs Portugal in euros quarterfinal.
In terms of pure numbers and longevity it belongs to Kane. In terms of my 32 years the peak and peak impact belong to Owen in an England shirt. Teams respect Kane. World class defenders feared prime Michael Owen because time and again he made impacts in matches that mattered. Maybe not enough to swing it. But not because he didn't deliver individually.
11.) 27 Sep 2026
27 Sep 2026 23:10:53
Michael Owen very good player and at full pace before injuries for sure he scared the hell out of other players.
I'd still take Kane over Owen for England and my club Leeds ( if only).
Kane's 414 career goals scored are virtually double those of Owen 213.