England boss Gareth Southgate admits he is concerned about his team’s reliance on the goals of Raheem Sterling and Harry Kane, as he urged the rest of his forwards to replicate their club scoring feats.
The Three Lions are bottom of their Nations League group after following last weekend’s defeat to Hungary with draws against Germany and Italy, with Kane’s late penalty in Munich the only goal they have scored across the three matches.
That goal was the captain’s 50th for the national team, while Sterling has become a reliable goalscorer across the most recent portion of his international career and now has 19 goals to his name.
However, centre-back Harry Maguire is the next highest scorer in the current squad on seven, with Tammy Abraham, Phil Foden, Bukayo Saka, Jack Grealish and Mason Mount having managed just 14 England goals between them.
“We had two or three very good chances we have to take,” Southgate said following Saturday’s 0-0 draw with Italy at Molineux.
“You don’t get lots of chances in games against top level teams. We’re very, very reliant on Harry and Raheem for our goals at the moment and that is a concern.
“Harry and Raheem are the ones that consistently get the goals and that’s the area we’ve got to improve if we’re going to progress as a team.”
Kane started on the bench against Italy before being introduced as a second-half substitute. He is likely to return to the starting XI for the visit of Hungary on Tuesday as he closes on Wayne Rooney’s all-time England record of 53, but Southgate is desperate to see the burden on his talisman reduced.
“The concern is if you don’t have [Kane] for whatever reason, Southgate added. “Every top team relies on their best players - France last night were dead and buried [against Austria] and [Kylian] Mbappe comes up with something.
“Of course, the quality of your top players has a large factor in determining how successful you are.
“We’re very fortunate that we’ve got some very good ones and our captain’s goalscoring record is phenomenal but we have got to start to spread that load. There are players who are scoring more regularly for their clubs and have got to convert that into international football.”
