Southgate fails to deal with Harry's poor game

MANAGER INDULGES LABOURING CAPTAIN

- Andy Dunn

HARRY KANE, for once, had won the ball but could still not contain his frustration, sending his studs onto the ankle of Fabian Ruiz.

He protested the yellow card but the look on his face suggested he knew it had been the slightly petulant act of someone utterly fed up with not being able to produce his best.

Time and some frank reflection - will tell if he had been carrying a physical problem through this tournament, but to see him labour on the grandest stage was sad.

And to see Southgate persevere with a labouring Kane was to see an England coach indulging a big name at the expense of his team's chances of lifting a major trophy.

Simple as that. That Kane had more first-half touches in his penalty area than he did in Spain's told you all you need to know.

A lot has been made of Kane's leadership of this England team and rightly so. He has been an exemplary captain.