Roy Keane has insisted England boss Thomas Tuchel will not want Harry Kane to drift from his position during the World Cup, as he declared his tendency to drop too deep as ‘madness.’
Kane scored the only goal as England beat New Zealand 1-0 in Tampa in their first warm-up match ahead of the tournament.
The England captain arrived in the box to flick in a header from a Djed Spence cross on the stroke of half-time.
Despite scoring the only goal, his 79th for England, Kane’s positioning was scrutinised by Keane post-match.
The former Man United captain, speaking on ITV, stressed that despite Kane possessing a superb range of passing England will need him to be closer to the opponent’s goal in the crunch stages of the World Cup.
Keane noted the searing heat matches are likely to be played at as a factor, while he insisted Tuchel will want the England talisman as high up the field as possible.
‘The whole argument, you don’t mind him dropping in because he has this range of passing when he does drop, but not off the back four,’ Keane said.
‘There was a clip from the first half, maybe it was just a bit of boredom.
‘Come the crunch games, if Harry Kane is getting it off the back four, imagine if you are a defender and seeing Kane getting it off the back four, you are delighted.
‘It is further up the pitch where he causes problems, but not getting it off the back four, that is madness.
‘There is no way the manager will be wanting him to do that when the proper games start.
‘He has done it previously, but he is more experienced, do not go getting it off the back four. To me, that is ridiculous.
‘He’s got to be sensible, we’re talking about the conditions.
‘He doesn’t need to be coming back beyond the halfway line trying to spray balls, there’s enough players who can do that and enough quality, you get yourself in there, you’re the best in the world at this moment in time.
‘If England want to win the big trophy, he’s going to be your main man.’
