Gareth Southgate admitted England have room for enchancment after Harry Kane ended his six-game aim drought to encourage a 2-0 win in opposition to Albania in Sunday’s World Cup qualifier.
Southgate’s facet struggled to break down the well-organised underdogs till the Tottenham striker netted late within the first half in Tirana.
It was the England captain’s first worldwide aim since he scored in opposition to Kosovo 500 days in the past in November 2019.
Back within the beginning line-up after being rested for Thursday’s 5-0 demolition of San Marino, Kane now has 33 targets in 52 England appearances.
Kane additionally arrange Mason Mount’s second half aim as England made it two successive Group I victories on the highway to the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
Robert Lewandowski’s Poland go to Wembley on Wednesday for England’s first critical take a look at of the qualifying marketing campaign.
After ending because the 2018 World Cup prime scorer in England’s run to the semi-finals, Kane hopes to lead his nation to glory on the delayed Euro 2020 later this yr.
But after this scrappy show in opposition to a group 62 locations under them within the FIFA world rankings, Southgate conceded there’s work to do if England are to win a primary main prize because the 1966 World Cup.
“I didn’t like the way we managed the game in the last 15 minutes, charging forward when we didn’t need to. I’m pleased with the win but there are areas we can tighten up on,” Southgate stated.
“We have to keep pushing this group. There’s a lot of talk about us and what we potentially might be, but if we want to deliver we’ve got to have really high standards.
“I think we can get better. They should enjoy the win but I think we can improve.”
Kane insisted he was by no means troubled by his sudden lack of England targets, saying: “I have always said as a striker, sometimes you go through spells where everything you touch goes in and sometimes it just doesn’t go your way.
“You just have to stay focused on doing your job for the team and thankfully we did that. It’s great to get the three points.”
Mount’s aim emphasised his emergence as a key member of Southgate’s group and his newest influential show drew a waspish rebuke for his critics from the England boss.
Clinical Kane
Criticised for choosing Mount as an alternative of Aston Villa’s Jack Grealish final yr, Southgate stated Chelsea supervisor Thomas Tuchel’s religion within the 22-year-old since changing Frank Lampard has out of the blue made him modern.
“I thought his performance was excellent. I was saying in the autumn that he is a very good player. Now Thomas Tuchel picks him, everyone agrees. When Frank did it, it didn’t count for some reason,” Southgate stated.
“He finds space intelligently, he manipulates the ball very well, he creates chances, he can score goals.”
England struggled to open up the massed Albanian defence, however they lastly produced an incisive assault to take the lead within the thirty eighth minute.
Raheem Sterling and Mount labored the ball broad to Luke Shaw on the left and the in-form Manchester United defender, making his first England look since 2018, picked out Kane with a high quality cross.
Timing his run completely to elude his marker, Kane glanced a medical header into the far nook from 10 yards.
The 27-year-old almost scored once more when he met Sterling’s cross simply 5 yards from aim, however this time he fired in opposition to the crossbar.
Sterling’s nimble footwork arrange Phil Foden for a low strike that Etrit Berisha pushed onto the woodwork early within the second half.
In the 63rd minute, Kane seized on Albania’s dangerous try to play out from the again and performed an ideal go to Mount, who guided a crisp end into the far nook for his fourth England aim.
