Crystal Palace manager Roy Hodgson has defended his decision to utilize Harry Kane for taking corners for England during the Euro 2016 Championships, something which the veteran manager was widely criticized for.
He said: “There wasn’t a lot to criticise at the time; we weren’t playing too badly. There has got to be something to talk about, hasn’t there, and looking at statistics at the time, Harry didn’t score goals (from corners). He had scored only one all season, I think.
“You want the best technician in delivery and we thought we would get the best deliverer of the ball delivering, because we had a few other players who were good at attacking the ball in the penalty area.
“That’s one thing you have to accept: that in 95 minutes of football, an inability to win could be encapsulated by who takes corners, or not doing your throw-ins correctly.
“It’s more complicated than that and had we had someone else on corners, and Harry in the middle, it wouldn’t have made one bit of difference to our results.”
Kane was selected for the Three Lions at a time when competition for places was intense so much so that then captain Wayne Rooney had to be used in central midfield.
On Sunday, Hodgson will have to hope that his men can curb the threat of the man that he had so much faith in Kane.
Spurs will be firm favorites for the game considering their recent run of good form and the high confidence with which they seem to be playing, as shown by their 3-1 victory over Real Madrid on Wednesday.
Palace are clearly struggling and are in last position on the League standings. They did however claim their only win of the season against defending Champions Chelsea and this is something that they can take heart from heading into the match.
