So Hodgson put out what he feels may be his starting lineup against Russia next week, and most importantly the Premiership's two top scorers. This was a chance to give people a taster of what these two hitmen could do when working together against a Portuguese defense without Pepe.
And.....the result wasn't so great.
Vardy put in a good shift, ran, tried really hard but never really had and clear chances. Kane on the other hand just never connected with anything. Never broke free to make a run behind any defenders, had some bad touches and didn't test the goalkeeper.
It wasn't an abject failure but didn't feel anyone with any confidence that these two cats can fire England to European glory. They just didn't really combine well with each other and didn't have much of chemistry. That is ideally what you want when you play two strikers. You don't want two dudes playing on islands, independent of one another. The whole point are for them to trade passes that split open defences.
When you think about their seasons. Both players haven't ever played with a strike partner. Vardy was always much further ahead of Okazaki, and Kane is the lone striker for Spurs. So it was always going to be a long shot for it to work instantly. That's why Hodgson has to actually do some managing and look at how he can be inventive with lining up the strikers.
Sturridge and Rashford will have to be used, and the former actually came on and popped off a shot within a few minutes. Something that Kane and Vardy struggled to do in all their time on the pitch. So each of these four guys gives Hodgson something and he must not go with the obvious of forcing the two "best" strikers to play together.
International football and Premiership are two very different beasts. A lot of players can't make that transition. You can't force it, either you flow with the flow or you don't. Simple as. Hodgson has to keep an open mind and see which players perform better on this stage, irrespective of how many G's they scored in the Premiership. HH
Comment below using your Facebook or Twitter Account to Log Into Disqus.
