THIS IS WHERE KANE CAN BE MOST EFFECTIVE

ENGLAND are still looking for their best team and system and are wrestling with how to use their strikers, but one position is clear to me: the need for Harry Kane to play as the No 9 through the middle. He is your out-ball, a player comfortable with his back to goal and, yes, he scored goals for Tottenham drifting in from wide, but is the most effective centre forward in the England squad. That means leaving out either Jamie Vardy or Daniel Sturridge, or playing one of them in a different role out wide. Every team is looking to increase its goalscoring threat and wide forwards need to weigh in, as Riyad Mahrez did for Leicester with 17 Premier League goals. But any striker playing out there also has to occupy the opposition full-back to stop him from attacking regularly. Goalscorers don’t always like to do this — they see it as donkey work. Strikers are usually the biggest egos in your group. When I was at Newcastle, I alternated between Papiss Cisse and Demba Ba through the middle, with the other playing wide. My argument was to give each their feed of playing in the premier role while also asking them to play the support. Some teams play with a No 10 in behind the striker and England can do that, too, with Wayne Rooney and Dele Alli capable of providing a threat. It seems Hodgson is trying to accommodate as many forward-thinking players as possible. That means Rooney, Alli, Kane (below) and probably Vardy could all get the chance to play against Russia. I hope they can settle into a system that works. There is always so much talk in the media about the best starting XI but I think the team who wins will grow into Euro 2016. Their line-up at the end won’t be the same as their line-up at the start.