World Cup

[monks data]

Attendance: 64,406

World Cup | Third-place Match

Jul 14, 2018 at 3pm UK

Belgium
2-0
England

Meunier (4'), Hazard (82')

FT(HT: 1-0)

Gary Neville: 'Harry Kane has not been himself'

By Daniel Lewis, Senior Reporter | 14 July 2018

Gary Neville: 'Kane has not been himself'

Gary Neville suggests that Harry Kane has been carrying an injury after failing to register a shot on target in England's last three matches.

Former England assistant manager Gary Neville has insisted that striker Harry Kane "has not been himself" in recent matches, which he believes played a big part in the Three Lions' World Cup exit.

Kane looks likely to end the tournament as the top scorer thanks to six goals in six games, placing him three in front of his closest remaining challengers for the Golden Boot.

The Tottenham Hotspur ace scored twice in England's opening-game win against Tunisia, a hat-trick in the 6-1 thrashing of Panama and one in the last-16 victory over Colombia.

From that point on, however, Kane failed to so much as register a shot on target in the win against Sweden and defeats to Croatia and Belgium, leaving Neville to question the player's fitness.

"Harry Kane's going to win the Golden Boot but since the 90 minutes finished against Colombia - the extra time, the Sweden game, the semi-final and the third-place play-off - he's not been himself," he told ITV Sport.

"We couldn't speak more highly of him during the tournament in terms of what he has done but he's not been himself for three games now. He doesn't look fit to me at all and there were a couple of times in the second half [against Belgium] when the quality into the box was good and he wasn't making those runs into the back post.

"You can talk about the midfield but he hasn't been himself for the last three games and that has been a big factor as well. He can turn games and he can get a goal out of nothing."

Kane's six goals in Russia came from his six shots on target.