BBC Sport presenter Gary Lineker has criticised Harry Kane for his performance for England in their 1-1 draw against Denmark on Thursday night.
Gareth Southgate’s side missed the chance to seal top spot in Group C with a game to spare as they laboured to a draw in Frankfurt.
Kane opened the scoring only for Morten Hjulmand to level before Denmark then controlled much of the contest, with a large number of fans booing at full-time.
Bayern Munich striker Kane came under heavy criticism for his performance as England limped towards qualification to the knockout stages and Lineker ripped into the England captain after the match on Thursday.
Speaking during BBC One s coverage of the match, Lineker said: In all honestly, I think Harry Kane needs to do a lot better.
I think his movement was minimal, he didn’t look to go in behind but even when he did look to come in short, he’s just drifted short very lethargically, plodding short. And that’s not going to help.
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When you’re a striker you have two jobs, one is scoring goals which he is brilliant at. But I think he needs his manager to say ‘I need more from you Harry’.
I would have expected that if I had that kind of performance. He’s up against three at the back so he has got to stretch that team. When you get the ball coming short, you don’t have to go 20 yards short. He’s not creating space for himself.
He’s never really been a player that spins in behind but it’s the same thing. If someone is in midfield and you want it in behind you go that way first, then you go behind. That’s how you stretch the team.
If you have someone who can stretch the team, it creates more space for the midfielders. In his defence, when that happened today there wasn’t midfielders pushing on. So it’s a whole team thing.
Lineker added: I think he does get frustrated and when he does that he ambles back and ambles back.
He wants to play his part defensively. But if you are playing fairly deep anyway and your striker comes deep, it exacerbates the issue. Then you have no target to hit. He has got to stay high up.
And former England coach Pearce was also critical of Kane s performance and called on Southgate to think about replacing the Bayern Munich striker.
When asked whether he would drop Kane, Pearce said: To be honest with you, I think I would.
To get more energy in the team, to get someone to run in behind the opposition’s defence and then you review it again when you get to the knockout stage.
