Star striker Harry Kane has criticized Gary Lineker for his recent comments about England’s performances in the 2024 European Championship (EURO 2024). Kane has urged former England internationals-turned-pundits to be more considerate before delivering their assessment, as they know how difficult it is to win major international trophies.
Gary Lineker Delivered X-Rated Assessment Of England’s Performance
England have failed to live up to expectations in EURO 2024, only narrowly beating Serbia on Matchday 1 before playing out a 1-1 draw with Denmark on Matchday 2.
Many former England internationals have criticized England’s performances, asking them to do better. Lineker, who scored 48 goals in 80 games for the Three Lions, recently called their EURO displays “s***”. He also claimed Kane needed to do “a lot better.” England’s leading scorer in European Championship history (7 goals), Alan Shearer, also seconded his opinion.
Harry Kane Urges Ex-Internationals To Be Considerate
When asked to comment on Lineker’s harsh criticism, Kane very respectfully asked his predecessors to be more responsible, as their harsh comments did more harm than good.
Speaking to the press ahead of England’s final Group C game against Slovenia, the Bayern Munich ace said (via football.london):
“I would never want to be disrespectful to any player, especially a player who has worn the shirt and knows what it is like to play for England. The bottom line is we haven’t won anything as a nation for a long, long time and a lot of these players were part of that as well and they know how tough it is, so it is not digging anyone out.
“It is just the reality that they do know it is tough to play in these major tournaments and tough to play for England. All I would say is remember what it is like to wear the shirt and that their words are listened to. Some of the lads, I don’t know how many, but we do hear it.”
He concluded by adding:
“We all want to win a major tournament and I’m sure they want us to win a major tournament and being as helpful as they can and building the lads up with confidence would be a much better way of going about it.”
Despite their subdued start, England sit at the top of the Group C rankings. They simply need to avoid defeat on the final Matchday to progress to the Round of 16 as group winners.
