Why Does Harry Kane Drop So Deep For England?
Kane's regular movement to drop deep caused Croatia all sorts of problems, and will likely be a running theme through the summer.
Throughout the World Cup, I’ll be posting some short pieces on things that catch my eye during the tournament. These will be available to all subscribers - if you enjoy these pieces and want access to the full back catalogue, as well as an exclusive dashboard to create action maps like the one you can see below, please consider a paid subscription! Thank you for your support, and enjoy the World Cup!
Every international tournament it seems there is a lot of noice about Harry Kane and how he spends too much time not being a centre forward. The truth is though, he is a fantastically gifted player with the ball at his feet, and he has the intelligence to match those abilities.
By dropping into areas that a conventional number 9 would not operate in, he is constantly asking questions of centre backs and central midfielders. Should they follow him? If so, how far? Should they pass him over? It seems Thomas Tuchel’s squad selection especially in those attacking areas was geared almost completely around getting the most of England’s record goalscorer.
This first clip is from an England goal kick. This was a clear early plan from Tuchel to have Kane & Bellingham drop deeper than the two wingers - who themselves were narrower than you might expect. The idea behind this is to disrupt Croatia’s back 3, centered by a very talented but inexperienced Luka Vuskovic.
The 19 year old is hesitant to follow Kane so far up the field initially, this allows the Bayern man to receive, turn and play in Noni Madueke on the right flank. This simple set up has created a huge gap between the two wide centre backs, and in this case Gvardiol is trying to manage that gap whilst keeping tabs on Madueke. The Arsenal winger now has his man isolated in a wide 1 v 1, and England have a 3 v 3 that they don’t take advantage of.
In this next clip, Kane begins as the centre forward but then jogs back into essentially a '6’ position. He goes past two Croatia players who both point to a team mate to pick him up, none of them do and he’s able to receive the pass with lots of time and space.
What follows here is clearly something else England have been working on. Each of the England midfielders & attackers make subtle movements that are designed to create another large gap in the backline for Bellingham to try and expose.
Madueke tries to drag Gvardiol wide, Gordon does the same on the other flank. The central midfielders switch sides, and even Reece James drops back to try and create more room. Kane’s pass doesn’t come off, but these simple rotations are the result of some very nice work on the training ground in the last couple of weeks.
As the first half went on, Vuskovic would get a bit braver and follow Kane a little further up the pitch. Whether this was instruction from the Croatian dugout, or just the youngster feeling more comfortable, is irrelevant to England really.
In this clip, Kane’s positioning creates a very staggered back 3 and gives Gordon an entire quarter of the pitch to run in to if Declan Rice can find the pass. He’d be in on goal for a 1 v 1 here even though he’s beginning this move in his own half. This was another missed opportunity for England, and Gordon wasn’t rewarded for his run. He had a match-high of 20 runs in behind, followed very closely by Madueke’s 19.
In this final clip from the second half, Kane this time drops very slowly almost to the edge of his own box. In a familiar theme to the first half, nobody from the defeence or the midfield (including the experienced Luka Modric) follows Kane.
Eventually, he receives the ball in the ‘6’ position again, but this time with the difference that he has the time and space to turn and carry the ball way up the field. He spreads the ball wide but again England fail to create a good opportunity from this move.
I’d expect us to see Kane continue to drop deep throughout the tournament, and with wingers that will threaten in behind (especially Gordon & Rashford from the left), as well as Jude Bellingham who we saw yesterday can make those moves too, I imagine we’ll see some more success coming from this tactic too.