Who should play up front for England?
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Version 0 of 1. When Harry Kane is handed a place in Roy Hodgson’s next England squad it will hardly come as a huge surprise. The manager confirmed a few weeks ago that Kane would be given a chance at full international level and although he has endured a relative slump in form – scoring only once in a run of five matches, of which his Spurs team won only one – the striker has also managed to break yet further scoring records. His first goal at Loftus Road on Saturday made him only the fourth player in Premier League history to score in six successive away matches, while his second took him joint-top of the charts for away goals scored, tied with Sergio Agüero on 10. He is now the highest scoring Englishman in this season’s top tier with 16 goals, and his WhoScored rating of 8.20 in the QPR game boosted his seasonal average to 7.39, taking him just above Wayne Rooney as the highest rated English forward in the league. Of course Rooney hasn’t been afforded the best conditions in which to build his season, having been deployed in the centre of midfield in Louis van Gaal’s ludicrous attempts to shoehorn every attacking player at his disposal into a functional team. One would hope that Hodgson will opt against following suit when it comes to the national team, but some are starting to question – given Kane’s form in particular – whether captain Rooney is still deserving of a place in the team at all. Presuming that Hodgson will continue to retain the same 4-4-2 midfield diamond formation he used to so little success at the World Cup, Raheem Sterling will presumably stay in the No10 role behind two strikers, while Hodgson has asserted that Rooney remains his first-choice selection. In fairness to Rooney, since returning to his more familiar attacking role, he has scored four goals in five games. Two of those came from the penalty spot, but he has generally looked far more comfortable and significantly more dangerous in recent matches. He has 10 league goals this season, despite having made 12 of his 24 appearances in a deep-lying role, where he was very rarely ahead of the play. With an average of 2.2 shots and 1.5 key passes per game, he has retained his attacking threat throughout the campaign, also contributing four assists. Having scored again last night, taking his career total against Arsenal to 14, he is looking back to near his best. Then there is Daniel Sturridge, still England’s most potent goal threat, though he has spent much of the campaign sidelined due to thigh and hamstring injuries. He is still searching for match sharpness, but has three goals in just 525 minutes of action and was devastating at White Hart Lane earlier in the season. With a decent average rating of 7.27 in his five Premier League starts, he tends to do well when given a significant amount of playing time, and he is almost worthy of a place in the team solely for his propensity to produce something outstanding out of nothing. Kane is hard to ignore, though. His name is everywhere and he will be fully deserving of his place in the England squad. He has 26 goals to his name and some 18 Premier League points gained, making him the most effective forward in the country at present. Tireless in his running, his confidence is sky high; he averages 3.2 shots and 1.2 dribbles per game, and he has won possession in the attacking third of the pitch 18 times this season, the fifth most in the Premier League. There is an intensity to his play that Spurs manager Mauricio Pochettino demands, and given that Hodgson made the switch in formation based on Liverpool’s success – in particular that of Raheem Sterling and Sturridge – last season, Kane could be a better like-for-like substitute for Luis Suárez than Rooney has proven. Charlie Austin’s 15 goals give Hodgson further food for thought, and while he is a far more limited technician than the likes of Danny Welbeck, the two could be looking at a head-to-head battle for a fourth striker spot in the next England squad. The Arsenal forward has the experience of playing at the top level and showed at Old Trafford last night that he can produce when given a chance through the middle, though only four goals and two assists in 20 league games this term does not make for pleasant reading. He was industrious in his work and showed a coolness in front of goal that he is not best known for, but it perhaps isn’t misguided to say that, when in need of a goal with 10 minutes remaining, you might prefer to bring on Austin before Welbeck. Hodgson also has decisions to make regarding Danny Ings, Saido Berahino and Theo Walcott. Each has his merits, and could earn a place in the squad, but with limited spots available there is a good chance of them all missing out. It will be a nice quandary for Hodgson to have, though. In the build up to the last World Cup he barely had a decision to make up front, with Jermain Defoe even making it on to his reserves list despite having made the wholly uninspiring move to MLS. Less than a year later and England have a wealth of attacking options from which to choose. One even might go as far as saying the future is bright. 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