Danny Murphy criticises Harry Kane after England draw with USMNT

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Danny Murphy has told the Daily Mail that he was frustrated to see Harry Kane defending inside England’s penalty area during their draw with the USMNT on Friday, insisting that he should have been nowhere near that area of the pitch.

England’s latest World Cup group game proved to be a major disappointment. The Three Lions were held to a goalless draw by Gregg Berhalter’s side. And actually, it was the US who probably came away from the contest feeling that they should have won.

Certainly, Kane was one of those who was extremely underwhelming. The Tottenham talisman failed to have a single shot on target throughout the contest. And a look at his heatmap from Whoscored suggests that he saw as much of the ball in his own box as he did at the other end of the field.

Murphy frustrated to see Harry Kane defending

Murphy was extremely critical of the way England were not willing to go long at various stages. But he also criticised Kane for dropping too deep to get involved.

“Another thing that frustrated me was seeing Kane in our own 18-yard box and not just when the USA had a corner,” he told the Daily Mail.

“I’d be telling him I never wanted to see him in the defensive half. I’m sure he was only trying to help his defence when he spotted danger. But don’t do it. Stay up the pitch and concentrate on your core job.”

You can understand why Kane was prepared to drop so deep. It became apparent early on that England were going to struggle to break the US down with the way that they were playing.

And yet, with little desire to change their approach, Kane must have felt that the only way he could make an impact was to drop back and get involved in the build-up play.

It is something that he does brilliantly for Spurs. However, it did not work in the same way for England on Friday.

They are still in a fantastic position to finish top of their group. But what will worry England supporters is that the US have shown exactly how to play against Gareth Southgate’s men to get a positive result.