Harry Kane has just scored 61 goals in 51 games for Bayern Munich, the most prolific season of his club career. It is a ridiculous tally for any striker, never mind one who has spent much of the campaign dropping deep to help his side build play. Now Thomas Tuchel, the man who deployed him that way at Bayern, is England manager—and he wants his captain to keep doing exactly that.
Pundits and fans have long questioned Kane’s positioning. Why, they ask, would such a prolific scorer hover outside the box when England need goals? Tuchel’s answer is clear: dropping deep might enable Kane to strike gold at the World Cup. The evidence is in how he played for Bayern over the past few months.
“Harry Kane scored 61 goals in 51 games for Bayern by dropping deep; Thomas Tuchel wants England to use the same false-nine role at the World Cup.”
Bayern lacked a natural link player between defence and attack for much of the season because of injuries to midfielder Jamal Musiala. Kane was asked to drop in to solve the problem. “When Jamal’s playing, it’s a bit different. Getting the ball off defenders, driving… when we were playing together, it was better for him to go and do that,” Kane said. “This season, it’s allowed me to play a little bit deeper, use my qualities in that sense of turning and playing it forward, then arriving later in the box.”
Kane executed the role brilliantly, using his remarkable passing quality from deep to find runners ahead of him in dangerous positions. The tactical effect was twofold. When Bayern played the ball back, opposing teams defending deep were forced to step up. If a centre-back followed Kane as he dropped, space opened in the heart of defence for others. If the defender stayed put, Kane became the free man, supplying an overload in midfield with time to turn and pick a pass.
Tuchel has surrounded Kane with wingers and attacking midfielders—plus a left-back in Nico O’Reilly—who excel at running into the spaces that open up. Paris St-Germain have similarly used Ousmane Dembele in this roaming false-nine role to much success.
England fans will want to see this goal-happy version of Kane at the World Cup. With Tuchel building the squad around it, the striker who scored 61 goals without staying in the box may finally silence the doubters.