Gareth Southgate was asked to explain, during his England press conference on Saturday, why Harry Kane is such a ‘strong leader’ given that he was perceived to be this ‘sanitised’ character when giving team-talks during Tottenham’s All or Nothing Amazon documentary.
The England manager made it clear that ‘everybody leads in a different way’, as he shared that Liverpool midfielder Jordan Henderson is ‘very vocal’ on the field of play, whilst he suggested that Tottenham’s main man prefers to let his football do the talking.
Whilst Kane is now England’s permanent captain, Southgate has passed the armband to various players in recent years from Raheem Sterling to Kyle Walker, even if it would be for a game or two.
But Southgate, who has watched Kane rise from England’s U21 age groups, was full of praise for the man leading his country right now.
“For me, everybody leads in different ways,” said Southgate. “I think the days are passing where everything was about Churchillian speeches. Different captains lead in different ways.
“Declan [Rice] has mentioned Hendo [Jordan Henderson] being very vocal on the field, but we have got players in our team who might say very little on the field but take the ball under pressure and that’s leadership in a different way.
“We have got others who are very vocal within the dressing room before the game. Some players are very vocal and some are not. We are not asking players to make special speeches before the game. We have had a go at that in the past, and in different moments different people will step up and speak. For me, that isn’t a total of the team before the game.”
England will take on Belgium in a crucial UEFA Nations League encounter tonight and Kane will be looking to edge closer to Wayne Rooney’s goalscoring record in what will be his 50th cap for his country.
He was rested for England’s friendly win against the Republic of Ireland and Thursday, but he’ll be looking to cause havoc against some familiar faces tonight.
Kane’s Tottenham teammates – Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg and Toby Alderweireld will be expected to feature, as will the recently departed duo Christian Eriksen and Jan Vertonghen.
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