Kane confident that England will improve

THE trouble with leading people to the mountain top and showing them the promised land is that it does rather run the risk of raising expectation.

And it makes the journey back down, as you admit you’ll now all be returning to where you lived before, that much harder to take. It feels like that for England, with Gareth Southgate’s side grumbling on the journey back down.

In July 2021, when England beat Denmark — somewhat fortunately — in the Euro 2020 semi-final and looked ahead to a final with Italy, Southgate took his lap of honour at Wembley and was lavished with praise. England fans had glimpsed the prize — a major trophy — and were enraptured. ‘Southgate, you’re the one! You still turn me on!’ sang the crowd.

Now the relationship has turned sour on the trudge back to the usual lowlands that England occupy and the manager does not remotely turn the fans on.

Harry Kane stood in the San Siro after Friday’s 1-0 defeat by Italy patiently replying to angst-ridden questions, with England’s World Cup opener against Iran 57 days away and the team on its worst run since 1992. He suggested all this was trivia, that judgments should be reserved until Christmas.

‘I understand the frustration of the fans,’ he said. ‘I was an England fan and still am, whether I’m playing or not. I understand it. But ultimately we’re going to be judged on what happens come November.

‘If we have a successful tournament, I’m not sure people will be worried about the spell we had over the summer, and that’s the bottom line.

‘We need to improve, we know that. The fans are always great and stick with us. I know they’ll be there on Monday [against Germany] supporting us and everyone will be excited about the World Cup, regardless of what happens. Hopefully we can repay them.’

Like all great competitors, Kane has an extraordinary ability to park dark thoughts of vulnerability in the far recess of his brain to summon up fresh reserves of optimism. Like that line about the fans always being with the team. They were booed off at Molineux when they lost 4-0 to Hungary and booed off on Friday night.

The question is whether Kane’s rhetoric is a psychological device to obscure the inevitable, slow decline of the Southgate era, its zenith located in the second minute of the Euro 2020 final when Luke Shaw’s strike had England on the cusp of believing.

The signs are not good for England. It feels like they’re back to where they started: a turgidity formed of incoherent strategy which means one of Europe’s most feared strikeforces can’t create goalscoring opportunities. One goal has been scored in these past five Nations League matches, a penalty against Germany.

Southgate feels he has compromised in the past and will stick to first principles. He wouldn’t elaborate precisely on what that comment meant but you suspect he feels he’s experimented with a fan-friendly 4-2-3-1 formation but that he is wedded to his preferred back three.

To describe it as a 3-4-3 would be generous, however. In the Euro 2020 final against Italy, it became 5-2-3, which is no way to play against an accomplished Italian midfield trio of Marco Verratti, Jorginho and Nicolo Barella.

‘We’re a really strong group,’ said the captain. ‘We’re always honest with one another. Among ourselves we are always talking about how we can improve. The players are ultimately the ones on the pitch and need to take that responsibility. We know we need to do better.’