I’d make Declan Rice England captain, Harry Kane is a great player but the armband makes it very hard to sub him
HARRY KANE is a great player, a top goalscorer, commands total respect from his team-mates and is rightly the first name on the England teamsheet.
So far, so good, but I have my reservations about him as captain.
Harry Kane is a key player but England might need more pace during some games, while Harry Maguire might struggle unless in a back threePA
Declan Rice has taken centre stage for England and deserves to be captainGetty
It’s not because I doubt his abilities as a leader but if Gareth Southgate ever needs to change things he cannot take Harry off.
All strikers have a bad day occasionally, even Harry, but nothing looks worse to the rest of the team than if the skipper is subbed.
You look across to the bench, see your leader sitting there and it sends a bad message. Consequently Harry stays on when it might be detrimental to the team.
Ok, that might not be very often, but it does happen.
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If your skipper is in midfield or defence you give them the armband knowing that, even if you want to switch tactics, you’re still unlikely to sub them.
It is more likely to be a striker who comes off either to be directly replaced or to add an extra body in midfield or defence.
We are at the stage now where you need alternatives to Kane. I thought we needed that against Croatia in the semi-final of the last World Cup.
We were short and should have freshened it up properly.
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When Glenn Hoddle took the England captaincy off me and gave it to Alan Shearer I thought it was the wrong decision, not just because it hurt my pride, but also that it meant Alan would never come off even when we needed a quick player on up front.
Personally, I’d have given the captaincy to Declan Rice. I love his character, he had a fantastic Euros, and you know he’s going to give you 90 minutes.
Don’t forget the last time we won it we had a West Ham captain so it makes perfect sense!
We do have the basis of a very strong team. I’ve been so impressed by Jude Bellingham, and Bukayo Saka, who is flying, and I’m sure we’ll come through well against Iran today and get out of the group — but I can see us falling short against the top teams.
Gareth’s always been really defensive. His teams are cautious and he won’t put a team out there which will just go and play football.
It also worries me he doesn’t seem to know his right team or formation.
I was in despair when he played Saka at left wing-back in the recent game against Italy. Please no more of that.
He doesn’t seem to know his best back four or whether he’ll play with three central defenders.
I wouldn’t worry about Saka, who missed the penalty in the final — he’s well over that, it’s obvious when you see how he’s playing.
Then he’s got the situation with Harry Maguire not having played much which isn’t great.
I think he will be fine in a three but in a two I’m not so sure and he could get exposed.
But Maguire has done it for this manager and there is a trust there so I’d be prepared to go with him too for this game and see how he goes.
This team has been brought through by Gareth and while people can argue they have been making progress with a semi-final and final in the last two tournaments, we didn’t win them and we may have missed the boat.
Those who played in both have the baggage of failing at a vital stage and it could have a mental effect on them.
I’d be feeling we’ve had such a great opportunity to win the last two tournaments and we didn’t do it.
But I wouldn’t be worried about Saka, who missed the penalty in the Euros final — he’s well over that, it’s obvious when you see how he’s been playing since.
