Paul Merson couldn’t resist at sarcastic swipe at Harry Kane amid England’s latest at Euro 2024.
Gareth Southgate’s side turned in another lifeless performance as they were held to a goal-less draw by Slovenia in Cologne. England still managed to top a poor group and will face a yet-to-be-determined third-placed side in the last 16 on Sunday.
Prior to the game, Kane had called on pundits and former players to be more positive about the team. Gary Lineker and Alan Shearer have been particularly scathing, with the former labelling the display against Denmark “s***”.
Kane pointed out that they’d won nothing in an England shirt, reminding them of the pressure that came with playing for their country. The Bayern Munich forward said: “I would never disrespect any ex-player. All I would say is remember what it is like to wear the shirt and that their words are listened to. Some of the lads, I don’t know how many, but we do hear it.
“We all want to win a major tournament and I’m sure they want us to win a major tournament and being as helpful as they can and building the lads up with confidence would be a much better way of going about it.”
Kane’s comments were derided in some quarters and as England laboured against Slovenia, Arsenal legend Merson took a shot at the former Tottenham striker on X (formerly Twitter), writing: “Brilliant first half and lots of shots on goal against the best team in Europe…. (Is that okay Harry?).”
England showed a little more urgency in the second half as Southgate’s substitutes made a positive impact, but they couldn’t find a winner. The final whistle was greeted with boos, while some fans even lobbed plastic cups in Southgate’s direction as he clapped supporters.
Despite another uninspiring stalemate, Kane tried to highlight the positives, saying: “I think we can be proud of finishing top. It’s not easy in these major tournaments, as you’ve seen with other nations, other big nations, in the tournament already not finishing top, so we can enjoy this for sure.”
He added: “Another good clean sheet, which we’re going to need if we want to go far in this tournament, that’s for sure, so credit to the boys for that. We enjoy it and move on to the next round.”
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