England’s elimination from the Qatar World Cup at the hands of France has millions of fans irritated and bummed out.
The Three Lions did play some encouraging, progressive football against the defending world champions, but ended up coming up just short in the end.
Of course, as is the case with football these days, someone has to be blamed for the loss. Gareth Southgate has earned the wrath of many supporters calling for his head and for him to be replaced.
Former Manchester United captain Rio Ferdinand wasn’t shy from voicing his frustrations with Southgate for making the wrong and late substitutions against France.
The players of colour in the England national team have been victims of awful racial abuse once again. Bukayo Saka, who was arguably their best player of the entire tournament and against France, has been racially abused by some fans who believe he is to be blamed for their loss.
Interestingly, England captain Harry Kane – who actually blasted a crucial penalty into the rafters and failed the chance to help his side get back into the game towards the end – has received a lot of support.
The Tottenham Hotspur forward has been backed by fans and pundits alike for showing great character in taking the second penalty and being unlucky to see it be off-target.
But not everyone is so convinced of him. There is a feeling among some fans that Kane is just not suited for big-pressure situations in knockout competitions.
An interesting description of Kane’s poor performances in big-game situations from former Spurs midfielder Jermaine Jenas has been unearthed after his latest showing.
Back in October, Jenas questioned the forward’s ability in the major knockout games and detailed how poor he has been in all the important games in his career.
Jenas said: “I need to see more from him. My biggest issue with Harry Kane – and he is going to be a God at Spurs whenever he decides to retire and he will go down as one of the greatest players in Premier League history – finals and big games, I think, are a problem when it comes to what he has done in those moments.
“If you go over Spurs’ history and their biggest moments, City away, didn’t play, Ajax, coming back, didn’t feature. He was injured, but they are historically, some of the biggest moments in Spurs’ history. He wasn’t anywhere to be seen.
“I’m not saying he shouldn’t be in the team, but in these biggest moments came, he’s not performed. Two League Cup finals, not performed. I’ve not seen him do what he does on a weekly basis in the big game.”
So technically, this isn’t wrong from Jenas. Kane has had a history of failing to perform in major cup games in his career and a reputation for ‘bottling it’ in high-pressure situations.
However, the ex-Spurs midfielder’s comments have divided opinions among England fans.
Some supporters believe that he is spot on with his analysis of the England captain’s history of dropping the ball in the big games.
However, others questioned how exactly someone like Jenas – who himself didn’t win a major trophy in his career and only made 21 appearances for England – is to judge a player of Kane’s ability.
The Spurs forward will have to learn how to live with these accusations of him being a big-game flop. The only way he can shut up his doubters is by helping his club end their trophy drought and win some silverware at the end of this season.
